More Than a Ninja
by Narutofan401
Summary: What if Naruto was trying to escape a mob at a young age and awoke the ability to teleport, or jump, from place to place? What if he decided to quit being the orange wearing idiot he was? NarutoxJumper. Strong!Naruto. Naruto x temari.
1. Chapter 1

More Than a Ninja

Chapter One: 

The Beginning

A seven year old Uzumaki Naruto was running for his life from a group of drunken villagers. He didn't know what he did wrong. Sure he played a couple pranks, wore an annoyingly bright orange jumpsuit, and slacked off in the ninja academy, but he didn't know what he deserved to be chased through the village like some sort of animal. They called him a demon, a monster, a leper. It wasn't the time for reminiscing as right now he was trying to avoid a group of blood hungry villagers.

"There he is! It's the Demon!" called a clearly drunk civilian. Normally this man would never hurt a small child, but this was no small child, this was the Demon that attacked the village. This boy was the demon that had killed his father and sister.

'_Dang it!'_ Naruto mentally cursed as he ducked into another alley, hoping to lose the villagers. He ducked behind a dumpster and prayed.

"He went behind that dumpster!" a villager yelled.

"Which one?" another villager asked. The first villager pointed to the dumpster Naruto currently hid behind.

Naruto wished he could just disappear. He knew he was going to get a severe beating; he always did on this day. This day was the day he always had to run for his life, October 10th, his birthday. It was also the day that seven years ago the Yondaime Hokage had defeated the mighty Kyubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed demon fox. The Yondaime was Naruto's hero and inspired Naruto to want to become the Hokage.

Naruto curled up into a small ball and cried. He cried for his crappy life, he cried for the beating he was about to endure but most of all he cried for how weak he was to not be able to fight back. He imaged lying on his bed, no matter how uncomfortable it was. He imagined his home, the one place he was safe from these bad people. Then it happened. A warm sensation seemed to cover his entire body.

His eyes fluttered open as he expected to see a group of angry villagers. He was wrong. What he saw was his old, worn apartment.

'_How did I get here?' _he could of sworn he was just hiding behind a dumpster being chased by a group of villagers. His mind seemed to fly hundreds of miles an hour trying to process this information. One second he was one place, and the next thing he knew he was back at his apartment. Did he--did he teleport?

"Only one way to find out" he mused. He then focused on a point on the other side of his room, he willed himself to be there…nothing. He scrunched his eyes in frustration.

"Why won't it work!" he yelled to himself. He tried to think about what he did to make himself teleport before…That's it! He was unconsciously focusing chakra when he was thinking about his home. He then looked across the room and focused chakra throughout his body, at the same time willing himself to teleport across the room.

30 seconds passed and finally Naruto closed his eyes in frustration only to feel the warm sensation again. He blinked and looked to see himself standing in front of the wall that was previously across the room from him. He grinned at his accomplishment. No one would ever mess with him again.

**Time Skip—5 years—day of Graduation**

It's been 5 years since Naruto learned to teleport. Since that day he rarely took a beating as he could just step into an alley and teleport away. He didn't like the word teleport though so he often referred to his ability as 'Jumping'. Nobody knew about his ability as far as he knew as he only practiced it in secluded areas.

No longer did he wear a bright orange jumpsuit. He opted to wear something stealthy, more suited for ninjas. Naruto now was clothed in loose black training pants with an orange stripe going down the side, taped at the ankle, a sleeveless black shirt, and had white bandages wrapped around his arms. After that night Naruto started to take his ninja training seriously, although there is not much that you can learn without a proper teacher. He could now successfully perform the Transformation, the Replacement and the clone Justus. His taijutsu was more of a street brawler, useless for a ninja, but great for a jumper. All in all he was an average student in the academy, not being the best nor the worst.

He woke up early that day and took a quick shower before he had himself a bowl of ramen before he headed off to perform some light stretches to get ready for the academy test today. He was determined to pass this time as the last time the only reason he failed was due to not being able to successfully perform a clone, something he could do now.

After his light stretches he walked to the academy. Sure he could just jump there but he had time and sometimes he liked to walk. It was soothing really, to feel the morning breeze flow through his unruly hair. It was days like this that he really lived for…so peaceful…no mobs of villagers trying to kill him.

He got to the academy 5 minutes before the bell would ring, signaling the start of the day. His eyes quickly grazed over the ninja hopefuls. He was confident in his ability to pass and he knew most of his classmates would pass too. There was one person though that Naruto just couldn't stand. Uchiha Sasuke. He was cold towards everyone. He was popular but could care less. He had the whole Uchiha superiority complex and thought he was above everyone else. Something about his 'I'm an Uchiha and I deserve more than you' personality really rubbed Naruto the wrong way.

"I was here first!" an annoying voice screeched.

"No I was!" a just as annoying voice yelled right back.

Oh great…if there were any two people who Naruto couldn't stand as much as the Uchiha it was his faithful fan girls, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. They were terrible Kunochi, caring more about their looks than their ninja skills. They also seemed to be obsessed with the class brooder and would do anything to get his attention…to bad they didn't get the hint that the Uchiha could care less about them.

"Yeah right forehead! I was so here first so I'm sitting by Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled triumphantly.

"Bull crap Ino-pig! You and I both know I was here first and Sasuke-kun likes more way more than you!" Sakura countered with a smirk and she brushed the dust out of her pink hair. Sometimes Naruto wondered if she died her hair or if it was just natural. But then he would remember he could care less.

This argument went on for about 5 minutes with neither contestant budging an inch. In the end they were interrupted when Naruto asked why they'd want to sit by the Uchiha. Well…it actually went more like this.

Naruto snorted. "Why would you want to sit by the emo duck ass anyway?"

"Naruto! You baka don't make fun of Sasuke-kun he is way better than you in every way!" Sakura yelled and tried to hit Naruto only for him to sidestep and she fell on the ground. Sakura's misfortune caused everyone to laugh, even Ino, well everyone but Sasuke, Shino and Shikamaru (Who was sleeping).

"You Baka!" Sakura yelled and charged Naruto and yelling about how he tripped her. They were interrupted however as Iruka appeared in the room.

"Everyone sit down now!" Iruka yelled using his **Demonic Head Jutsu**. Everyone was immediately seated as no one wanted to get in trouble on the day of the final test. "Ok class, as you know today you will be taking your final genin test to see if you will graduate and become full fledged shinobi of Konoha. Being a shinobi is not a game and you will have to put your life on the line in a mission many times. You will also be expected to kill and die for your village." Iruka took a break. "Now we will start the tests. You will be tested on the Clone, Transformation, and Replacement Jutsu. Failure to do any of the three will result in immediate failure. Aburame Shino, will you please come with me into the other room?"

Naruto's last name was Uzumaki so naturally he came at the end of the list. Some people would come out with a smile and a headband while others came out empty handed. The most notable were Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Choji, Hyuga Hinata, and Yamanaka Ino who all came out with headbands. Naruto figured as much as they were all future clan heads. Next up was Uchiha Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke, would you please follow me to the other room?" asked Mizuki, Iruka's assistant.

"Hn" was the only response he got. All the Uchiha fan girls squealed at this point, having confidence that their crush would pass easily.

A minute later Sasuke walked out sporting his headband on his head. Go figure.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Mizuki asked, barely containing glee as he thought of his diabolical plan coming into place. "Good luck, Naruto." He said as he patted him on the back.

"I don't need luck" Naruto said confidently as he entered the room, completely unaware of how much his life was going to change in the coming hours.

"Would you please perform the Transformation?" Mizuki asked in a monotone voice.

Naruto put his fingers into the ram hand seal and a plum of smoke later an identical image of the Yondaime was standing there.

"That was very good, now the replacement?" Mizuki vainly tried to hold in his joy.

Again Naruto went through the required seals and replaced himself with a log. He also noticed that it was a lot harder to control his chakra and he was wasting a lot more than usual. He just brushed it off as nervousness.

"Now would you please perform 3 clones?" Mizuki asked innocently.

Naruto preformed the necessary seals and a puff of smoke enveloped the room. Standing, or lying, next to Naruto was a pale, dead looking Naruto. Not what he expected.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but do to your inability to form a single clone—you fail!" Mizuki said feigning sadness. His plan was almost in place.

"But…I knew I could do it…I did it last night!" Naruto argued in vain and Mizuki shook his head sadly. Naruto proceeded to run out the door and took a seat in the back of the room, causing many people to look at him.

"Hmm I knew he wouldn't be able to pass! What a loser!" Kiba smirked at his joke causing everyone to laugh. Naruto just ignored him and sat in his corner.

_'I know I could do that jutsu! What happened? Why did Mizuki seem happy that I failed…Wait! I remember him slapping me on the back and then my chakra started to act up! That must be it…' _Naruto's mind was a mess of thoughts until he finally came to a conclusion. Confusion quickly turned to anger as Naruto thought of ways to get back at Mizuki. He couldn't just tell Iruka-sensei, because who would believe a genin over a chunin like Mizuki. But Mizuki would be his prime prank target for the next year until he had another chance to pass.

After class ending Naruto immediately sat on the swing he would always go to after he failed his test. He overheard shushed conversations of parents picking up their children.

"It's a good thing he didn't pass..."

"Yeah…can you image if he were to pass…"

"I know considering he's just the…"

"Shhh! You know we're not supposed to talk about that!"

Naruto tuned most of it out until about an hour after class Mizuki approached him. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this, seeing as how Mizuki had caused him to fail.

"Sorry about how you failed Naruto." Mizuki said with fake sorrow in his voice.

"It's ok." Naruto said. What was Mizuki up to?

"Between you and me, there's another way to pass." Mizuki whispered with a strange gleam in his eyes. This further intrigued Naruto.

"Really? How do I do that?"

"All you have to do is steal the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage's office and learn 1 Jutsu." Mizuki explained.

Naruto knew he was lying. He knew that the Scroll of Sealing was the village's sacred treasure but he figured he'd get to learn a kinjutsu and then he'd take down Mizuki if he tried anything. "Ok! I'll do it!" Naruto yelled with fake joy.

"Good. Here's a map of the guard layout. You must get the scroll and go to training ground 16. There you can learn a Jutsu from it and pass!" The traitorous chunin said as his plan worked better than he thought.

Shortly after Mizuki left Naruto decided he'd get the scroll fast and possibly learn two Jutsu so he 'jumped' into the Hokage tower and made his way to the room. He pressed the part of the wall Mizuki described and walked into the room. That was just too easy. He picked up the Scroll of Sealing and jumped to training ground 16.

Naruto then opened the scroll._ 'The Shadow Clone Jutsu allows the user to split their chakra and produce a solid clone of the user. The Shadow Clone, when expelled transfers all its knowledge to the original, meaning it can also be used for spying or training._ _Shadow Clone? Hmm…a solid clone would be incredibly useful!' _with renewed vigor Naruto started to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He had it down in a couple hours and opened the scroll further.

He then read it mentally. _'Great Clone Explosion Jutsu. To use this jutsu you must have already mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The Great Clone Explosion is a variant of the Shadow clone. Using this Jutsu allows a seemingly normal Shadow Clone to blow up with the force of multiple exploding tags, more or less depending on the amount of chakra used. High B ranked Kinjutsu.'_

For the next couple hours Naruto learned the Great Clone Explosion and then copied a couple more Jutsu down on a blank scroll he had present. Soon after he was done he sensed someone's presence. _'Took them long enough…' _Naruto thought to himself. Soon enough Umino Iruka appeared in of Naruto.

"Naruto! Do you know what you've done?" Iruka asked, shocked that Naruto would steal the Forbidden Scroll.

"Yeah! I learned a Jutsu from the scroll, just like Mizuki said. So do I pass or what?" Naruto asked with fake innocence.

"What are you talking about?" Iruka was completely shocked. If what he was hearing was true than Mizuki was a traitor.

Before Naruto could answer Mizuki appeared in the clearing. "Give me the scroll!"

"Naruto, don't give him the scroll. He's just using you. He's a traitor!" Iruka countered.

"Meh, don't worry Iruka-sensei. I knew Mizuki was up to something all along. He even purposely made me fail the first test. I just went along to try to bust Mizuki as the traitor he was." Naruto explained with practiced ease.

"What?!" Mizuki asked shocked that Naruto knew all along about his plan. "It doesn't matter because both you and Iruka are going to die!" Mizuki yelled as he threw one of the Fuuma Shuriken at Naruto. Naruto pulled out a kunai from his pouch and deflected the Shuriken. Mizuki decided to pull out his trump card.

"Do you want to know why you're hated Naruto?" The white haired traitor asked with malice.

This struck a chord in Naruto. He always thought he was just hated…he didn't think there was a reason.

"No Mizuki! It's forbidden." Iruka pleaded.

"It's because 12 years ago on your birthday, the Kyubi no Kitsune attacked the village. The Yondaime didn't kill it as you were told. He sealed it into a newborn baby. That baby was you. You are the Kyubi no Kitsune that nearly destroyed the village 12 years ago!" Mizuki bellowed.

Naruto dropped on his knees. Was it true? Was he the Kyubi? It made sense when he thought about it. His birthday was the same day as the Kyubi attacked and he was always called a demon and a monster. It also explained why everyone hated him. _'So…I'm nothing but a demon?'_  
Before Naruto could react Mizuki was throwing another shuriken at the blonde demon container. The Jinchuriki didn't have time to dodge. He clenched his eyes shut and waited for his early demise. Only it never came. He opened his eyes and gasped when he saw Iruka-sensei sitting in front of him. The only difference was the giant shuriken sticking out of a large wound on his back.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, holding down tears.

"Why did you protect the demon Iruka? You and I both know that demon killed your parents!" Mizuki accused angrily.

"You're right…the Kyubi did kill my parents." Iruka muttered darkly causing Naruto to want to cry. "But…Naruto is not the Kyubi. Naruto is one of my finest students and a future shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato!" Iruka protested. He turned to a shocked Naruto. "I was kind of like you, you know? I didn't have any parents. I resorted to pulling pranks to try to fill the void. I know what it's like to be alone. I'm sorry about everything. I should have been there for you."

Naruto went from shocked to happy to angry. He got up and turned to Mizuki. "You hurt my sensei, and if you ever touch Iruka-sensei again. I'm going to kill you!" Naruto growled.

"Ha! If you could even touch me! I'm a chunin and you're just an academy student!" Mizuki smirked, confident in his abilities.

"Try on this! **Multi-Shadow clone Jutsu!**" Soon the field was surrounded with hundreds of Naruto's all ready to attack. Mizuki didn't feel too confident anymore.

The next hour was filled with the hundreds of Naruto's beating the living crap out of the traitorous chunin.

"Heh…I guess I kind of overdid it?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Naruto…close your eyes." Iruka instructed. Naruto did as he asked, even if it confused him. He felt something being tied over his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Iruka-sensei without his headband. The blonde's hands immediately went up to his forehead.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled as he tackled the scarred chunin.

Things seemed to be looking up for our favorite blonde jumper. He just hoped that things would stay that way.

**Yo! Narutofan401 here! This is my first fanfic so I would appreciate criticism and your opinions. It's just an idea so I'm not sure if I'll continue it. If you guys seem to like it though I will! I got this idea because I loved the movie jumper and a Naruto teleporting around seemed pretty sweet to me. Naruto's ninja skills are above his in canons but not enough to beat Sasuke without jumping. Enough A/n please review and tune in Next time for More Than a Ninja chapter 2: Team assignments and the first mission! Tell me if you want a certain pairing as I'm up for anything but Sakura! Also if there is anyone you want to be on his team I'm open for ideas, I'm leaning toward to classic Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke but anything works!**

**Cya,**

**Narutofan401.**


	2. Team assignments and the first mission

More Than a Ninja

Chapter 2: Team Assignments and the truth comes out!

**Buenos dias! Ok, enough Spanish! I really can't believe the response I'm getting from just chapter 1! I was expecting a couple reviews but I was so surprised when I saw the number of reviews, favorites, and alerts! Thank you all for reviewing! I love reviews and I live for them! I think you've heard enough of me talking now!**

**And now for our featured presentation!**

Naruto woke up with a smile on his face. He couldn't remember being this happy in months, if not years! He had finally done it. He was now an official shinobi of Konoha. He hopped into his icy shower, not even caring that the water heater was broke. He doubted anything could ruin this day for him. Oh boy was he wrong.

After a quick shower and a bowl of ramen Naruto was out the door, bound and determined on his journey to the Ninja academy, for his final day. He promptly ignored the glares he received and instead opted to smile right back at them. This however only added to the uneasiness of the villagers.

Naruto walked into the academy and took his trademark position in the second row. Today was going to be a great day. That's when it started.

"Oi, idiot! What are you doing here? This is for graduates only!" shouted a brown haired boy with a dog on his head and a big gray jacket.

"Look at the forehead dog breath." Naruto replied pointing to his leaf headband. He loved the feeling it gave to his forehead. After Kiba was shut up by Naruto the angry Inuzuka quietly took a seat in the front row, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.

A few moments later the crowd came rushing in and the daily battle between Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino began. Honestly Naruto didn't like Sakura. She always tried, keyword tried, to hit him. Of course she would wind up on her butt and it was a good comical relief, but still, did she learn from her mistakes? Yamanaka Ino was fine though as she'd never tried to hit Naruto or done anything mean to him. In fact she had even given him a sorrowful look when he had failed the day before.

Speaking of the pink haired banshee, "Naruto you baka! You can't be here! This is for graduates only." She kindly pointed out.

"Look at the forehead, or are you to blind to see the obvious?" Naruto replied sarcastically earning him a yell and causing the pinkette to attempt to punch him.

Next up Sasuke walked into the room. Of course this resulted in the mob of fan girls to get hearts in their eyes and ask for _their _Sasuke-kun to sit next to them. Sasuke looked quizzically at Naruto for a second but shrugged it off. It didn't matter. Nothing except avenging his family did.

Soon everyone in the class was seated and Iruka-sensei walked in. "Good morning class. I am proud to inform you that from this day forward you will serve as Shinobi of Konoha. I expect great things from all of you as you all have great potential. You will now be separated in Genin squads, consisting of three of you and one Jonin instructor. Please listen carefully as there will be no repeating. Team one…" Iruka continued on until team 7, "Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura…Uzumaki Naruto…" As soon as those words left his lips he heard two simultaneous bangs of heads hitting desk.

"…And Inuzuka Kiba…" After this there was one loud screech of 'Why am I with this dog breath?' and an even louder bang as a head hit the desk.

"Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 will consist of this year's rookie of the year: Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino. Your sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai. Team 9 is still in active duty. Team 10 will consist of Akimichi Choiji, Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru. Your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma. Please wait quietly well your sensei's will arrive shortly." Iruka finished flashing Naruto a grin and shusined out of the room.

Naruto waited bored for about 5 minutes until the first sensei walked in the door. "Team 8; meet me at training ground 5 in 30 minutes." It was a beautiful woman with exotic red eyes, curly brown hair, and a strange dress made of bandages.

Another couple minutes later a man with a cigarette hanging out off his mouth walked in. "Team 10, follow me." He wore an average Jonin uniform and had a beard covering his face. He seemed strong though.

Naruto waited for another 5 minutes expecting to see his sensei. He was wrong. He waited another, and another, and another until finally he screamed. "Three hours late! You gotta be kidding me!"

Sakura nodded her head and Kiba had a look that clearly said 'This man is dead'.

Soon enough a man with gravity defying silver hair walked in. He wore the average Jonin uniform but had his headband had one side hanging over his left eye. Strange but he seemed to exude an aura of confidence and skill. "Meet me on the roof." That was all he mumbled as he puffed away in a plum of smoke. Naruto thought he looked interesting.

Team 7 arrived on the roof to see their new sensei reading a small orange book with a women being chased by a man on the cover. All three of them sweat dropped at the sight of the perverted book.

"How about we do some introductions first?" the Cyclops asked lazily.

"What do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked with a confused look.

"You know; Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, and all the normal stuff." He replied lazily.

"Can you go first so we know what to do?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Fine. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes, and not as many dislikes. Hmm…oh and I also have many hobbies. My dreams are too complicated for you guys to understand." He said, not once taking his eyes from his book.

The three genin blinked in surprise. All they had learnt was his name.

"You next pinky."

Sakura glared at the name but continued either way. "My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes are…" At this she got a dreamy look in her eyes and blushed, "My hobbies are…" This time she blushed and squealed, "My dream is…" Now she almost burst the team's eardrums with a squeal, "My dislikes are Ino-pig and Naruto-baka!" She finished, pumping her hand in the air.

Kakashi sighed._ 'Great…a fan girl…'_ "Ok you next Blondie"

Naruto glared at the one-eyed jonin. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my likes are ramen, training, and the few precious people I have. My dislikes are the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, emo-temes, and annoying fan girls…" cue a glare, "My dream is to become the Hokage and to protect everyone!" Naruto's eyes glowed with an unknown vigor at this point.

_'So much like sensei…you will make a fine shinobi one day if you are half as determined as you father was…'_ Kakashi thought with remorse. "Ok now you dog breath."

Kiba growled at insult but still continued on. "My name is Inuzuka Kiba. My likes are my family, training, Akamaru, and my friends. My hobbies are the same as likes. My dislikes are emo-jerks, annoying weaklings and animal abusers. My dream is too become a great clan head and someday the strongest Inuzuka in decades!"

_'Great I have a brash, quick-to-anger Inuzuka, a diehard fan girl, and a blonde who I can tolerate, albeit barely…'_ "Ok team tomorrow we'll be taking your Genin test."

"Wait…but we already did our genin test!" Sakura shouted as she pointed an accusing finger at the copy-nin.

"No, that test was to see if you had potential to become Genin. This is the real deal. This test also has a 66.6% failure rate. Also don't eat breakfast, you'll just puke. By the way Naruto, Hokage-sama wants to see you, pronto. Ja ne!" He hummed as he disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving a confused Naruto.

"Hmm…I wonder why Jiji wants to see me…" Naruto thought out loud as he jumped off the roof and took off towards the Hokage tower.

He arrived and barged straight through the door, much to the shock of the secretary. "You wanted to see me?" He asked nervously.

"Oh yes Naruto, I just wanted to know how you like your new team…" he went on as he closed the door and activated the silencing seals, "and maybe why you didn't tell me you could teleport." The Hokage asked like it was the most casual thing in the world.

Naruto panicked. "How did you…?"

He was cut off by the Hokage. "Do you honestly think there wouldn't be security cameras? I saw you teleport in and take the scroll Naruto…you're lucky I burned the tape before the council got a hold of it." The old man questioned seriously.

Naruto gulped. "I'm sorry." He said feeling guilty.

"Don't worry. You're not in trouble, I'm just a little hurt you wouldn't trust me enough to tell me…" Sarutobi let the last sentence trail off. "However, we cannot let this ability get into the wrong hands. You are not to be using it unless no one else is around or it is a life or death situation. Understood?"

"Hai Hokage-sama. And if it makes you feel any better, I promise I won't keep any secrets from you anymore." Naruto said looking downcast.

"Now…How about we see it in action?"

Naruto looked excited as he 'jumped' to his apartment.

_'You truly are surprising Naruto-kun. To have an ability like that manifest in you, and surprisingly it uses little chakra, unlike the Yondaime's Flying Thunder God.' _The sandaime mused dreamingly.

The next day Naruto woke up, ate breakfast, he figured his sensei never ordered him not too and that he'd do better on a full stomach. He then hopped in the shower and headed off for the training field. He just hoped his sensei wouldn't be 3 hours late again.

He arrived and saw Kiba already there. "Look I know we were never best friends but if we are going to work as a team I'm going to have to tolerate you. So how about we put our differences aside and at least tolerate each other?" Naruto asked sincerely, surprising the loud Inuzuka who just nodded dumbly. Naruto smiled at this and went to catch a few hours of shut eye until their sensei arrived.

Naruto notices Sakura arrive and they mainly sat there in silence until there teams sensei arrived in his classic smoke puff. "Yo!"

"You're late!" Sakura accused loudly.

"Well you see…I was on my way here when I ran into an old lady stuck in a tree. I rescued her when I found out she was actually an enemy ninja. I then battled her and then took her into captivity…" Kakashi said bluntly.

"Sure, that's why you look like you just woke up." Naruto muttered bluntly. Kakashi eye smiled at this. He sure was sharp.

"Ok today you're going to be having a test to see if you can become a genin." He then took out two bells. "You must get a bell to pass."

Sakura scrunched her eyes in thought. "But sensei…there is only two bells?" she questioned dumbly.

"Of course, that means only two of you will pass!" Kakashi answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Now you have until noon to get the bells. Begin!"

As soon as those words escaped Kakashi's mouth the three genin disappeared into the bushes. _'Not bad. They seem pretty good at hiding. Hmm I wonder who will attack first.'_

He wasn't disappointed as soon enough Kiba appeared in front of him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. Was this kid really going to charge a Jonin?

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as he threw his dog a solider pill. "**Man-Beast clone**!" Akamaru then turned into a copy of Kiba. "**All fours jutsu**!" Kiba yelled as he and his partner suddenly looked more feral and got on all fours.

"Hmm you seem good at your family's techniques. First lesson: Taijutsu, the art of hand to hand combat."

Kiba and Akamaru charged Kakashi with surprising speed, but nothing Kakshi wasn't prepared for. He caught a punch aimed at his face and flipped Kiba over his back and threw him at Akarmaru, effectively knocking his targets away.

Kiba tried to regain his bearings and soon found he couldn't find his opponent. _'Left? Right? Up?...Down!" _He realized it too late though as two hands erupted from the ground and pulled Kiba underneath.

"Next lesson: Ninjutsu. **Earth style: Inner decapitation Jutsu**." Kakashi explained.

Meanwhile, in the bushes Naruto had confronted Sakura. "Sakura, don't you think there is something odd about this test? We are just genin and yet they expect us to be able to take on a jonin? And who has ever heard of a two man genin cell! Just think of the sannin!"

A knowing look all of a sudden developed on Sakura's face. "Oh! The true meaning of the test is teamwork! I get it."

"Yes. Let's go dig Kiba out and make a plan to take down Kakashi-sensei." Sakura nodded and they jumped across the trees to their downed teammate.

Naruto created a couple shadow clones to dig Kiba out, earning a dumbfounded look from their leader. Here was a kid no older than 12 making solid clones!

The Naruto's digging Kiba out whispered the true meaning of the test in Kiba's ear as they were digging him out.

Kakashi's eyebrows rose at this. They caught on so quickly? No one, not even his team when he was a genin had caught on this fast. Soon enough the tree genin disappeared.

Kakashi waited for a few minutes until he heard a cry of Shadow clone jutsu. He then dropped his book at the sight of all of the clones. There had to be dozens, no **hundreds** of clones. He knew he had made the right decision in training this team instead of Sasuke, like the council tried to force on him.

FLASHBACK……

Kakashi lazily walked into the council chamber, expecting for the annoying old hags to berate him for something or another he did. He wasn't mistaken.

"Hatake Kakashi, we're glad you have made it." The elder women asked him. Koharu was her name?

"Hai Koharu-san. What is it you need from me?" The copy-nin asked lazily.

"Well we are here to ask you to take Uchiha Sasuke as a genin, as you know he is graduating soon." She asked joyfully. She believed he would accept without question.

"I refuse." Kakashi stated bluntly.

This struck a chord in the council. "Hatake-san i assure you, this will benefit the village greatly. With the power of the Sharingan and you teaching Sasuke he could grow to be strong" Danzo explained slightly upset at the man's defiance.

"Why not?" Koharu addedsweetly.

"Simple. I don't want to train an arrogant brat like him. We don't even know if he'll awake his Sharingan." Kakashi explained matter-of-factly.

The anger rose. "He is the last loyal Uchiha! He could do wonders under a man who knows a thousand Jutsu's such as you!" The other elder, Homura, explained, trying to convince the man to train the last Uchiha.

"By that you mean you'd want me to let him copy my jutsu? More specifically my lightning blade?" Kakashi asked with no hidden annoyance.

"Yes and you will do as we command!" The elder's ordered.

"I don't follow your orders. I report directly to Hokage-sama and he already approved me teaching Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba." Kakashi explained angrily.

"What! You'd rather teach that demon than the last loyal _Uchiha_?!"

At this point Kakashi's K.I. rose through the roofs. How dare these people insult his sensei's son! He was the hero of the village! "Are you really accusing the savior of this village, the boy who holds back _it_, to be a demon?" Kakashi challenged angrily.

"Yes he's nothing but the Kyubi!" a random councilor yelled with a voice full of hate. This crossed the line for Kakashi.

Making three hand seals faster than anyone could see Kakashi's lightning blade flared to life. "For breaking the law of the Sandaime and insulting the village's hero, the punishment is death!" With that he disappeared and reappeared in front of the villager, plunging his lightning filled hand into the ignorant fool's chest. After he was done he glared at the rest of the council, daring them to try to challenge his beliefs. All he got was gulps.

"I'll be taking my leave now." Kakashi eye smiled as he puffed away, knowing he would be getting a talking to from the Hokage, even if technically he was just justifying the Sandaime's law.

Kakashi's eye widened as he realized that the Naruto's were already upon him. _'Crap! I was zoned out too long!' _He blocked a punch and swept another Naruto's feet, effectively dispersing him. He continued to dodge or block, occasionally countering, with just a little trouble. He was however impressed at the efficiency of the clones. Kakashi's visible eye widened again when he heard a cry of "**Fang over Fang"**. The Sharingan user barley managed to dodge a tornado heading straight towards him. In his surprise he didn't notice as a hand brushed his leg.

The timer went off. "You did surprisingly well, but, you did not manage to get the bells. He sighed, he had expected better.

"What these bells?" One of the Naruto's poofed into Sakura, holding the bells.

"Well you have both of them, so which of your teammates will you give one too?" Kakashi asked, genuinely curious to know the answer.

"Both." She said as she tossed a bell to each of her teammates. "They did more than me so they deserve the bells. Also we, or more Naruto, figured out the true meaning of the test, which was teamwork. How else would we be able to take down a Jonin?" Sakura asked him with surprising intellect.

Kakashi was, for the lack of a better word, impressed. He hadn't expected his team to figure that out so easily. "Well is that so? I'm proud to announce that you are now true genin! Meet me here tomorrow at 8 am for your first mission and then we will start your training." The scarecrow concluded happily as he 'eye smiled' at his new genin. He knew they would grow up to be great some day, with a little guidance and a few pointers here and there.

"Woohoo! We did it Akamaru!" yelled an extremely happy Kiba.

"Yes! Just wait until I tell Sasuke-kun!" guess who?

"Sweet I'm finally a ninja!" muttered Naruto dreamily.

HOKAGE TOWER

Soon enough the various Jonin assigned to take teams this year had all arrived at the Hokage Tower to inform their leader of their new team, or if they failed the team.

"Please start Kurenai-san." The old Hokage questioned joyfully.

"Of course Hokage-sama. Team 8, consisting of Hyuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke and Aburame Shino has passed, albeit barely. Sasuke refused to work with his teammates at first and it was not until he gave his lunch to Hinata that I saw promise out of him." The Sandaime sighed, expecting this, and then nodded to Asuma.

"Team 10, consisting of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji have passed their test. They used flawless teamwork, utilizing Shikamaru's strategic mind to capture me with their respective clan jutsu." Asuma explained proudly.

"Now how about your team Kakashi?" At this point everyone waited for the inevitable failure.

"Team 7, consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, and Haruno Sakura…passed with flying colors." At this point everyone was shocked. Asuma's cigarette had even landed on the floor. "They utilized great teamwork after Kiba had foolishly attacked me head on. It was surprisingly Naruto who determined the true meaning of the test and after sending an assault of Shadow Clone's after me had me square on for Kiba's Fang over Fang. Of course I dodged but not before Sakura had gotten the bells." Kakashi explained with complete seriousness.

This further shocked the others, because it wasn't everyday you heard of a genin capable of making enough Shadow clones to give _the_ Hatake Kakashi a work out.

"Good. If that is all you are dismissed. All but you Kakashi." At this the other jonin shusined out of the room, leaving the scarecrow and the professor left.

"Now Kakashi I know you know about Naruto's heritage…" Hiruzen trailed off.

"Of course I know he's Minato's son! I mean he is like a clone of him!" Kakashi yelled like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which surprisingly, it was.

"Yes but we can't let this get out, as Minato had a lot of enemy's. Minato had left in a scroll a set of instructions that we are to tell Naruto of his heritage when he became a chunin." The professor explained.

"Of course I understand."

"But that's not why I called you here." Sarutobi took a puff out of his pipe.

"Then why did you?" Kakashi asked nervously.

"It has come to my attention that Naruto has developed certain abilities, ones with great effects. Using these abilities I wouldn't be surprised if Naruto could defeat a chunin in all out combat." Sarutobi explained, causing Kakashi's eyebrow to rise.

"What are these abilities Hokage-sama? He asked with great interest.

"That, is something you must ask him yourself. However I would like you to know about this ahead of time as he is your student after all. Let me just say that this ability is similar to your sensei's prized technique." He said, choosing his words carefully. "You are dismissed."

Kakashi was now shocked, to say the least. A ability similar to the technique that gave the Yondaime the name 'Konoha's Yellow Flash' and spread fear throughout the entire world. Things were defiantly going to get interesting, he mused. And with those final thoughts he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The next day team 7 met at their usual training grounds, and waited the daily couple hours for their tardy sensei to show up. Soon enough though, they sensed his signature.

"Yo!" he greeted happily.

"You're late!" Naruto, Kiba and Sakura all shouted in Harmony.

"You see…I was on my way here when I saw Jiarya-sama and I had to wait in an enormous line to get my book signed." He explained, surprisingly telling the truth for once.

"Ok, I can buy that." His genin muttered.

"Now let's head to the Hokage Tower to pick up our first mission." He exclaimed as he saw the bright eyes of his students. Oh boy they were in for a treat.

Naruto was beyond happy. He was getting his first mission. _'I wonder what we'll do. Maybe we'll save a princess? Or escort a daimyo. Or maybe…'_ Similar thoughts flew through the three genin's heads.

"Hokage-sama, team 7 reporting for our first mission."

"Let's see…we have; cleaning the Inuzuka's kennel, Babysitting, chasing Tora, or…" The hokage went on, causing the three Genin to face fault at the lame missions. This was going to be a long career.

After a couple missions the three genin were gathered around their sensei, because he had promised them training.

"Ok today we will be determining your elemental affinities. There is a set of exercises to master your element, but we are mainly doing this to see what Jutsu will come more naturally to you. Just focus chakra into this paper. If it splits in half you have wind, if it crumples up you have lightning, if it burns you have fire, if it gets wet you have water, and if it turns to dust you have earth." Kakashi explained, slipping into lecture mode. The three genin were awe-struck as they stared intently at Kakashi. They each then took a piece of paper.

Sakura's card got wet, meaning she was a water type. Kiba's card turned to dust, meaning he was an earth type. Naruto was surprising. His card split in half, meaning he was a wind type. Surprisingly there was not many wind types in Konoha.

"Ok now I'll teach you each a basic Jutsu for each of your elements. Don't be surprised when it takes you awhile to master the jutsu though, as you are just new Genin. Sakura I'll be teaching you the **Water release: Water Wall Jutsu**. It is a defensive C-rank water jutsu and is used to create a wall of water to surround you. Obviously you will need to be near a water supply to use it." He showed her the seals and she ran off the practice it.

"Kiba you will be learning an offensive earth technique called the **Earth release: Earth Spear Jutsu**. This Jutsu allows the user to stick his hand in the ground and pull a spear made of earth out. It is also C-rank. Once mastered you can pull other weapons out as well." He then showed Kiba the seals and he ran off the practice it.

"Next Naruto, I will be teaching you a C-rank offensive wind jutsu called the **Wind release: Great Breakthrough**. It allows the user to create a gust of wind capable of knocking the enemy over with. The more chakra you pump in the stronger it becomes." He then showed Naruto the seals and our blonde protagonist ran off the practice.

The next couple weeks went by quickly, after not being able to do their techniques they bugged Kakashi into teaching them tree walking, which took Sakura a couple hours, Naruto a week and Kiba 5 days to master. This helped a lot with their control.

"DogBreath in position." Kiba muttered angrily into a microphone, vowing to hurt his blonde teammate.

"Pink Banshee in position. I hate you Naruto." Sakura whispered with anger clearly written in her voice.

"Future Hokage in position." Naruto replied back.

"Good team, move out!" With this the three genin jumped out of the trees and grabbed the wretched cat that had ruined days of their lives. They had caught the thing atleast 10 times. Of course the cat kicked and scratched and Naruto couldn't make a shadow clone carry it as it would disperse it so he was stuck carrying it back to the Hokage tower.

"Hokage-sama, Team 7 reporting mission success." Kakashi bowed to the aging Hokage.

"Good work now we have Babysitting the daimyo's nephew or…" The Sandaime didn't get to finish as Naruto burst out in anger.

"No! NO,NO,NO,No! We want a harder mission! Come on Jiji we've done enough of this child's play!" Naruto voiced out loud as his teammates nodded their heads.

"Well…you have done the minimum on D-ranks required to do a C-rank so…Kakshi? What do you think?"

"Well Hokage-sama I do agree with my students and I think we are wasting their talent doing such low level missions." Kakashi said, as his students looked at him in happiness.

"Ok. Team 7 you will be doing a low C rank mission to the land of waves. Our client is building a bridge and needs protection from bandits and the like."

The Hokage then spoke into his microphone. "Mia, could you send in Tazuna please?"

**And done! Woohoo I can't wait for the wave arc! So how was it? And yes Kakashi did know about Naruto's heritage which is why he chose to train him instead of Sasuke. Of course he will have to instruct Sasuke in the Sharingan when he unlocks it but hey, beggars can't be choosers! Thank you for reading and I am still in shock at the response I have gotten for chapter one! Please review! I don't even care if you leave short reviews like "Good Chapter". But anything to know you enjoy my story. Although constructive criticism is much preferred over flames!**

**Later, Narutofan401**


	3. C rank turned A rank: Enter Zabuza

More Than a Ninja

Chapter 3: Danger approaches!

Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter 3 of More than a Ninja! I'm torn and need a vote for something. Should Naruto be paired with: FemHaku (If she lives…), Temari, Tenten, no pairing, or other? If you want to vote just leave a review or PM me with the name of the Girl. Also Thanks for the amazing reviews and hits! I'm happy to say I'm over 2k hits for the story! I never thought it would be this popular. Also I know I have done a little bit of bashing and I'm going to change it, eventually. I hate pre-timeskip Sakura. I am, however, going to change her and make her more shinobi and less fan girl. Now that I'm done with the annoying A/N, please enjoy this chapter.

***

The three genin waited anxiously for their client to walk in the door. The door to the Hokage's office creaked open and an old, drunk looking, man walked in. He wore a plain brown shirt and pants and had a weird triangle-ish hat. He also had a bottle of whiskey in one hand, adding to the drunken effect.

"These brats are supposed to protect me? Don't make me laugh! They look like idiots, especially the short blonde one." Tazuna slurred out, causing three K.I.'s to be aimed at him, courtesy of the young genin.

"I assure you my team is more than capable of handling a mere C-rank mission. And even if it becomes out of their league, I'm a Jonin." Kakashi eye smiled as his mentioning of the mission rank caused Tazuna to sweat. He'd have to ask about that later. "Team we will meet at the north gate in 45 minutes. Pack enough supplies to last 2-3 weeks." The one-eyed Jonin commanded as the three genin left with smiles on their faces. They knew they were ready for this mission, with all the training they had done.

Over the last few weeks the three genin had progressed nicely. They had all learned two low rank jutsu, an offensive and a defensive, utilizing their chakra elements. They had also all started to get along with each other. Kakashi was immensely proud of the way his team had progressed. Besides learning new jutsu, Kakashi had also had them work on their Chakra control, Chakra reserves, speed and stamina. This had been done by running multiple laps around the village every morning.

The team of genin arrived at the North gate in 45 minutes and they were surprised to see their usually tardy sensei on time.

"Alright Team 7 let's move out!" Kakashi said cheerfully.

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled happily.

"Yaawhoooo! Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba grinned with joy.

"Hai Sensei" Sakura smiled.

The team walked in silence for awhile until Kakashi glanced down to see a puddle. _'Strange…it hasn't rained for weeks yet there is a puddle…must be a genjutsu. I guess I'll wait to see who the people are targeting.'_ Kakashi thought wearily.

It wasn't long until two people rose from the puddle, revealing the Demon Brothers of the mist. They rushed at Kakashi and seemed to wrap their chains around him. They then pulled and ripped him into pieces, smirking at their handiwork.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto, Sakura, and Kiba all yelled in surprise.

"Heh…one down, three to go." The left brother, Gozo smirked.

The three genin got over their shock and jumped into action. Sakura pulled out a Kunai and proceeded to guard their client, while Kiba and Naruto took on the Demon Brothers.

Naruto quickly took out a couple shuriken and threw them at the brothers, effectively pinning them to a tree. The ex-mist nins' growled and unhooked their chains. Not to be outdone, Kiba appeared in front of the surprised nuke-nins and delivered a vicious roundhouse kick the one on the right, Meizu's, stomach. This split the two up and Naruto jumped to engage Gozo.

Gozo charged at Naruto and brought his gauntlet down, intending to take the blonde's life, only for Naruto to parry it with a Kunai. Naruto then make a quick set of hand seals and held his hands out in front of him.

**"Wind release: Great Breakthrough"** Naruto yelled as a giant gust of wind flew at the missing ninja with surprising speed. It hit Gozo head on and knocked him unconscious. Naruto let a breath he didn't know he had been holding out.

Kiba charged at the former mist ninja, already in his All fours Jutsu. He tried to swipe the man only for him to block with his gauntlet.

"You'll have to do better than that." Meizu mocked with a smirk.

Kiba growled and started rapidly spinning. "**Fang over Fang**." He yelled as he flew at the surprised shinobi. Meizu threw himself to the right only to find a Kunai pointed at his neck.

"Game over." The somehow alive Copy-nin said.

"But—how—we killed you!" Meizu did a great impression of a fish out water.

Kakashi just pointed to the pile of logs sitting where he was 'killed'. Meizu's mouth made an 'o'.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're alive!" Naruto shouted as he threw down Gozo's unconscious body.

"I would have had him even if you didn't show up." Kiba whined.

"Yes, but I didn't want you to knock him out, or else I couldn't interrogate him." Kakashi explained as he tied the two brothers together.

"Now…who were you after?" Kakashi growled out, suddenly turning from the laidback sensei to the famed Sharigan Kakashi, killer of hundreds.

"It w-was the bridge keeper." Meizu muttered weakly.

"Who were you working for?"

The man spit on Kakashi's face. "Go to hell."

Kakashi then hit a pressure point, knocking him out. He then turned to the sweating self proclaimed super-bridge builder.

"Care to explain?" He asked with a glare.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Tazuna lied through his teeth.

"You're lying." Kakashi accused.

Tazuna sighed, knowing he was caught. "Well you see, a few years back a man named Gato arrived in Wave."

Sakura cut him off. "You mean Gato of the Gato Shipping industry?"

"Yes that Gato. He is one of the richest men in the world. He does indeed own a shipping industry, but that's not where he makes most of his fortune. He is works with drugs, slaves, women, and lots of other illegal things. This isn't why he wants me dead, though. Gato took complete control over our economy, leaching away our money and leaving us in poverty. Our only hope lies in the bridge I'm building. I lied about the mission rank because we don't have enough money for a B or A rank mission. I beg of you please continue on with the mission! Without you our country will lose all hope and I will die! And if I die my daughter and cute grandson will hate you and Konoha!" Tazuna finished.

"You deliberately lied about the mission rank, almost got me killed, and got a team of fresh genin sent on a B, possibly A, ranked mission. Give me one good reason not to leave right now?" Kakashi asked seriously.

"Please, you don't understand, I thought they would send a group of Chunin. I didn't know!" Tazuna begged.

"Well I guess it's not up to me. Guys, what do you think?" Kakashi sighed, looking at his students.

"I say we go!" Naruto yelled, not missing a beat.

"I'm in!" The brunette Inuzuka grinned.

Sakura seemed uncertain at first but eventually a smile appeared on her face. "Me too! We have to help them."

"Well I guess it's unanimous. We will continue with the mission." Kakashi smiled at the bravery of his students. This caused the genin to smile happily.

"Thank you! I know with your help I be able to build a super bridge!" Tazuna's face nearly split with his grin.

Team 7, plus one, walked quietly until they got to a dock and saw a man with a rowboat. They got in and continued on in silence for a few minutes until the bridge came into appearance.

"Whoa…" was all Sakura said.

"It's enormous!" Naruto agreed.

"Yup. This bridge is my masterpiece. It is how we will one day become free of Gato's control.

After landing the group again walked deep in thought.

_'Next time Gato will send a stronger ninja. Probably a Jonin.'_ Kakashi thought worriedly.

Surprising everyone, Naruto threw a Kunai into a bush. Everyone tensed only to relax as they saw a small rabbit hop out.

"Naruto you baka! You almost killed the poor thing." Sakura yelled in a protective manner.

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed. _'That rabbit had a white coat, and it's the middle of summer. That means it must have been kept indoors. It must've been used for a substitution!' _Kakashi panicked as he came to that conclusion. "Everyone get down!" He yelled as he threw himself over the bridge builder. The three genin ducked and saw a giant cleaver sail over there heads and right into a tree. Then a man appeared on the handle of the nearly 7 foot long blade. The man was wearing cameo pants, arm warmers, wasn't wearing a shirt and had his head band on sideways. He also wore bandages wrapped around his face.

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "Zabuza Momochi, the demon of the mist. To what do I owe the honor?"

"Hatake Kakashi, no wonder the Demon Brothers lost. I'll give you one chance to hand over the bridge builder or I'll kill you and your little twerps.

Kakashi pulled out a kunai at this. Zabuza saw this and put his hands in a seal. All of a sudden the mist rolled in and the four Konoha Nin couldn't see a thing.

_'This killing intent…it's tremendous…is this what a Jonin is capable of? I can't stand it! I'm going to kill my…' _Kiba thought as Zabuza's Killing intent nearly suffocated him.

"Guys, protect the bridge builder. I won't let a teammate of mine die!" Kakashi eye smiled at his team as he pulled up his headband.

"The Sharingan? So soon? I'm glad to see you are taking this seriously…" the demon of the mist's voice seemed to come from everywhere in the mist. "There are eight points to end a life in one hit. Which should I choose?" Zabuza spoke menacingly.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as Zabuza appeared behind the bridge builder, ready to kill him. Zabuza growled as Kakashi intercepted his blade with a kunai. They were locked in a power struggle until they broke away from each other. Kakashi charged Zabuza and appeared to stab him with a kunai, only for the ex-mist Nin to turn into water.

"A water clone?" Kakashi wondered out loud.

"That's right!" Zabuza yelled as he appeared behind Kakashi and sliced him in half. With that Kakashi turned into water.

_'He copied my Jutsu through this mist?!'_

Kakashi charged Zabuza with a kunai as the two Jonin locked in another power struggle between kunai and cleaver. Do to Zabuza's strength he overpowered the copy Nin and sent him flying. Kakashi landed on the water and his eyes widened as he saw the eyebrow less ninja charging at him. Kakashi then ducked under the water.

He then realized his mistake as the water became heavier. "**Water prison Jutsu**" Zabuza stated calmly as he held his hand into a sphere of water that contained the elite Jonin of Konoha.

"Run! He's too much for you. Take the bridge builder and go!" Kakashi shouted towards his team.

"Yeah right! Wasn't it you who said those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash?" Naruto piped in loudly.

"Yeah sensei we won't abandon you!" Kiba agreed as Sakura nodded her head.

"Fools…you should have run while you had the chance." Zabuza then created ten water clones that went after the three genin.

Two simultaneous calls of "**Wind release: Great Breakthrough" **and **"Earth release: Earth spear Jutsu"** were heard as a giant gust of wind hit the clones head on, dispelling 6 of them. Kiba than through a spear and dispelled the rest.

Next Naruto reached into his bag and grabbed a giant shuriken and threw it to Kiba. Kiba understood the hidden message as he opened up the shuriken and threw it at the masked enemy.

"You think your little toy is going to help you?" Zabuza challenged mockingly, catching the shuriken only to be caught of guard as he sees a second shuriken in the first ones shadow. He then smirks and jumps over it. "Is that all you got?"

He quickly turned his head to see the second shuriken transform into Naruto as he latched onto Zabuza's back and held a Kunai to his neck.

"Gotcha." The blonde jinchuriki said with a smirk.

Zabuza growled, knowing he couldn't get the blonde off with keeping Kakashi in his prison. He sighed and released the prison and he turned into water, shocking Naruto but releasing Kakashi at the same time.

"Good work getting me out Naruto, but I'll take it from here." Kakashi motioned for Naruto to leave.

"You think you can defeat me now?" Zabuza growled as he started a long sequence of hand seals, looking in shock to see Kakashi doing the exact same seals. They both finished their seals as twin dragons of water erupted from the lake and seemed to dance around the users before they lunged at each other in a deadlock of strength. The two dragons then dispersed each other. Zabuza narrowed his eyes as he started another long set of seals, looking in shock to see an image of himself beside the Copy Nin as he followed the same sequence of seals.

_'How?'_ The ex mist ninja screamed in his head as Kakashi's lone Sharingan eye seemed to spin, adding to Zabuza's distress. Due to the shock of seeing the leaf nin's eye spin Zabuza paused, for a mere second, on his hand seals. This was enough for the white haired scarecrow to get the edge.

"Can you see the future?!" Zabuza growled out angrily.

"Yes. And your future is death!" He proclaimed loudly as he finished his set of hand seals. "**Water release: Great waterfall jutsu!"** Just then an enormous whirlpool gushed out of the lake towards Zabuza. The demon of the mist visibly grimaced, preparing for the pain. He was then sent flying through the forest and smacked into a tree.

Kakashi and his team made their way over to the downed enemy. They were relieved that the fighting was finally over. "This is it Zabuza…" Kakashi started towards his kunai pouch only to be cut off as three senbon needles flew from the tree and lodged themselves into Zabuza's neck, killing him instantly.

"Thank you for wearing him down. I am a Hunter Nin from Kiri. I have been following Zabuza for a long time and will take him off your hands now." The newcomer greeted in a feminine voice as she appeared next to the body.

Kakashi checked for a pulse. "Well, he's dead." Kakashi announced, causing his genin to let a breath out.

"Thank you for your assistance, Konoha Shinobi, I will take the body off to dispose of it." The girl then placed a hand on the dead man's shoulder and disappeared in a swirl of water.

Kakashi sighed as he covered his eye with his headband again. "Now team lets…" He was cut off as his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell over backwards.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled as she examined the body for a pulse. "He's alive…If I had to guess I'd say he is suffering from chakra exhaustion…" The pink haired girl concluded as her two teammates nodded their heads in understanding.

"Tazuna, how far away is your house?" Naruto asked.

"Not too far this way. Follow me, you can stay with us." Tazuna replied as he walked off, followed by Kiba and Sakura. Naruto grumbled to himself as he created a couple of shadow clones to carry his exhausted teacher.

They arrived at Tazuna's house in about 10 minute's time, opening the door to find a very worried woman.

"Tou-san!" The women exclaimed as she rushed over to her father.

"Don't worry Tsunami; these are the super ninja who protected me on my way here. They will oversee me finishing the bridge." Tazuna grinned.

"It's nice to meet you. Thank you so much for protecting my father. He is really the only hope our country has left. My name is Tsunami." The women greeted with a grateful smile.

"It's really no problem. We really need to bring our sensei to bed though; he needs to recover from his latest fight." Sakura greeted politely while Naruto and Kiba walked in carrying Kakashi.

"Oh my! Follow me, right this way." Tsunami motioned for them to follow her up the stairs as she arrived in a room with a single futon lying on the ground.

"Thank you very much Tsunami-san. I'm Naruto and these are my teammates Sakura and Kiba." Naruto explained pointing to the two teammates. "And this," He pointed to the downed jonin, "Is our sensei, Kakashi."

"Nice to meet you Naruto-san, Sakura-san, Kiba-san." Tsunami answered, earning her a nod from the three genin.

"Any chance you have another couple beds? I don't know about you guys but I'm beat!" Kiba yawned loudly, blushing.

"Of course! If you'll just follow me to the other guest room." Tsunami then lead the three young ninja to their room, where they all plopped down on their respective futon and fell asleep almost instantly, causing Tsunami to giggle and leave to question her father about the Konoha Nin's state.

Haku sighed as she pulled the multiple senbon out of her mentor's neck, relieved that she had arrived right in time.

"Ouch! Damn that Kakashi and his Sharingan!" Zabuza cursed loudly.

"Don't worry Zabuza-sama, we won't underestimate them this time." Haku explained with confidence.

"Yes and next time those brats will all be dead, along with the bridge builder…" Zabuza planned maniacally.

The Next Day….

Naruto awoke to the smell of steaming bacon. He took a few seconds to try to remember where he was, until the past days events came playing back in his head. He nodded to himself as he walked downstairs to the kitchen, seeing Tsunami making bacon and eggs.

"Good morning Naruto-san. You're right in time; breakfast will be done in about 5 minutes." Tsunami smiled warmly, causing Naruto to blush and make his way to the table. He saw both his teammates already sitting down and he nodded to them.

"Any news on Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Not yet but he seems to be doing better." Kiba answered.

"That's good." Naruto yawned and stretched himself out.

"Yeah…I still can't believe how amazing Kakashi-sensei was out there…I almost died from just feeling their killing intent." Sakura shivered.

"Well I guess that's how a Jonin compares to Genin like us." Naruto offered and Tsunami came in with the food.

"Inari! Dad! Time for breakfast!" The brunette called loudly. Seconds later Tazuna and a young boy walked into the room. The boy had on a tan shirt with green overalls and a long collar. He also had on a tan hat with two blue horizontal stripes on it. He seemed to be brooding and reminded Naruto an awful lot of a certain brooding dark haired guy he knew

The food was passed out and everyone dug in happily, the three Konoha Nin were glad to have such a great meal after walking for the past day.

"Owhs Mesh Goawsh theshh isah sohe good!" Naruto blurted out in the middle of a mouthful of food. Somehow everyone seemed to understand he was complimenting the food.

"Thank you." Tsunami smiled and they all continued eating.

"Why do you even try!?" Inari suddenly yelled as he pushed out from the table and ran up to his room.

"What the heck was that about?" Kiba muttered angrily.

Tsunami excused herself before she followed the young boy.

"Well you see…Inari's 'father' was a man named Kaiza. He was the hero of wave…" Tazuna went on as he explained how Kaiza was killed for standing up to Gato and explained how he and Inari met. At the end of the story the Konoha Nin all sat there wide eyed.

"Woah…I can't believe someone could be so cruel!" Sakura muttered as she wiped away a tear.

"Yeah…that's just…not right…" Kiba continued.

"This is exactly why we're going to put a stop to Gato once and for all!" Naruto grinned as his two teammates did as well.

"Hell yeah! Right Akamaru!" Kiba joined in.

"Bark Bark!"

Later that day the three genin were inside their sensei's room, waiting for him to wake up. The lazy Jonin groaned and his eyes fluttered open. _'What hit me?'_ Kakashi asked himself as he rubbed his head.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're awake!" Naruto ran up to him.

"Yes, yes Naruto. I just suffered from Chakra exhaustion. I must have overdone it with my Sharingan again…" Kakashi trailed off as he took on a more serious demeanor. "However…I think that wasn't the last time we'll be seeing our friend Zabuza…" The one eyed Jonin finished.

"What! But you checked his pulse! That hunter Nin killed him!" Kiba yelled out.

"Yes but I found it strange that the hunter Nin didn't dispose of the body on sight, like they are supposed to. The head, and possibly the Kubikiri Houcho, is all the Hunter would have needed to prove the kill." Kakashi reasoned.

"So you think…" Sakura trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.

"Yes. I think Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi nodded grimly.

"Oh man! And if that hunter is working with him we will have more people to deal with." The blonde demon container mused.

"Precisely. This is exactly the reason we will be doing some training." The Copy nin explained.

"But how are you going to train us when you can barely move?" Kiba asked with a frown.

"Don't worry what I'll be teaching you I won't need to do any strenuous work." Kakashi said motioning for his team to follow him.

The four ninja, one on crutches, arrived at a small clearing with a pond in the middle. "Today we will be learning water walking. Water walking is an advanced chakra control technique, much like tree climbing except you have to constantly focus chakra to your feet. This will not only improve your control to the level needed for me to teach you your next jutsu, but will improve your capacity as well." Kakashi explained as he took a step onto the water and seemed to stand directly on top of it.

"Cool!" Naruto shouted as he focused chakra to his feet and stepped out onto the water, only to yelp as he splashed into the freezing cold water. He grumbled as he got out and took his shirt off.

"Oh and by the way if you don't do it right, you fall into the approximately 45 degree water." Kakashi eye smiled at his student's misfortune as he left to catch up on his reading.

The three genin dragged their feet into Tazuna's house after a hard day of training. They had each progressed nicely, to the point where Sakura could do the water walking excersize for 15 minutes before she ran out of chakra, Kiba could take a about a half dozen, give or take a few, steps into the lake before he would slip with his control, and Naruto could take around 5 or 6 steps before he would fall. Overall Kakashi was incredibly proud of his students for doing so well for their first day.

They flopped down into their seats and were served dinner with the rest of the family. It was chicken teriyaki with rice balls, classic but good none the less. The dinner, however, was interrupted from a small boy slamming his silverware on the table.

"Why do you try so hard? You can't win! Gato will just kill you!" He yelled angrily.

"Well giving up doesn't help at all does it? Maybe you are willing to give up without a fight, but not us kid." Naruto argued.

"You don't understand what he will do! You don't know anything about pain or suffering! You've lived a worry free life back in your village!" Inari called darkly, on the verge of tears.

"Shut up. You think I don't understand pain!" Naruto yelled. "I don't give a shit if your father figure died, because guess what? I never had one. I never had any family; I have been hated by the entire village for something I have no control over. I've been running from angry mobs since I was 5! So you think you've had it rough? Well grow up kid, because there's always someone who's had it worse." Naruto growled out as he pushed in his chair and left the house, saying he was going to go train.

Naruto sighed as he worked on his water walking. He knew he had gone a little far with the kid, but to be fair the kid was just asking for it with all that whining, and complaining, not to mention he reminded Naruto a lot like a certain Teme he knew. Of course he'd apologize to the kid once he got back.

Naruto yawned as he made his way back home. On the way he decided to just sleep outside so he crawled up into a ball under the tree and fell asleep.

Meanwhile back at the house Tsunami confronted Kakashi.

"What your student said back there…is it true?" Tsunami asked as Sakura and Kiba listened in quietly.

"Yes, but he sugar coated it as well. He never had a family and he was kicked out of the orphanage when he was 5. Since then he has been living in a beaten old apartment. He is also hated by most of the village for reasons I can't say." Kakashi seemed to sink into his clothes at this point. "In all reality Naruto should be seen as a hero for what happened to him, but the village is too blind to see what's not directly in front of their faces." Kakashi muttered angrily.

"I would have never guessed…He always seemed so happy…so full of confidence. I would expect him to be like Inari, but worse, for all that happened to him.

"Yeah I know what you mean. In all reality he should have ended up like Inari. Somehow he didn't. And you know what?" Kakashi asked rhetorically. "I don't think I've ever once seen him cry. I guess he just decided one day that crying wouldn't change anything. Sadly his trust is very thin and he only trusts a select group of people, I'm proud to be part of this group." Kakashi thought as he remembered his conversation with Naruto a couple weeks ago.

***FLASHBACK***

It was the day after Kakashi's talk with the Hokage and he was going to confront his blond student about this ability. The only problem was he had no idea where to find his student. He had checked Ichiraku's, the Hokage monument, and his apartment. He was about to give up when he felt a spike of familiar chakra come from a nearby training field. He rushed over to investigate.

He gasped in shock as he saw his student create at least a thousand shadow clones. "How…?" Kakashi whispered to himself as he saw his blonde student have an all out free-for-all fight with his clones. This lasted twenty minutes until Naruto was the last one standing.

Naruto panted after his training only to hear clapping as he turned to see his tardy sensei standing in a tree. He was shocked that he couldn't sense the man.

"Kakashi-sensei…What are you doing here?" Naruto questioned.

"Well I was looking for you and I couldn't help but notice your little battle royal." Kakashi eye smiled. "But the reason I came to find you was because the Hokage told me you have an interesting 'ability', although he wouldn't tell me what." Kakashi frowned when he saw his student flinch.

"Well…no…I mean yes…I mean" Naruto was cut off by his teacher.

"Don't worry Naruto I won't tell anyone. I just want to see it, seeing as how I am your sensei and should know all of your abilities in order to teach you useful Jutsu." Kakashi smiled warmly.

Naruto relaxed and nodded his head at this. "Ok, prepare to be amazed! If you could eat anything in the world right now what would you want?" Naruto seemingly asked out of the blue causing Kakashi to sweat drop, thinking it was some kind of pointless ability.

"I don't know…a stick of dango?" Kakashi stated, expecting for a dumb prank.

"Ok I'll be right back!" Naruto then suddenly _disappeared_. Not like a shushin or a burst of speed but he just vanished. It was like he just teleported. 10 seconds later Naruto appeared in the same spot with a plate of dango and he tossed one to his new sensei.

"So what do you think?" Naruto asked.

"You—you can teleport!" Kakashi was shocked to say the least. Naruto merely nodded his head.

"This is amazing! It used little chakra and can take you to the dango restaurant and back in an instant?" Kakashi asked

"Mmhmm. I can also use it for short…" Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind the copy nin. "…distances." Naruto finished.

"How far can you go?" Kakashi questioned the Yondaime's legacy.

"Umm…I don't know. I've gone as far as that old cabin Jiji used to bring me to, but it uses up more chakra.

Kakashi's eye bulged from its socket. He knew what cabin the blond was talking about and it was located on the northern end of Hi no Kuni. "That's…incredible…with some practice you could use this to surpass your--the Yondaime's Flying Thunder God!" Kakashi asked, almost slipping and saying: Your father.

Naruto's grin threatened to slip his face at this point. It was a well known fact that Naruto looked up the Fourth Hokage as a role model.

"I also think you should let your teammates know about this eventually…" Kakashi stroked his chin in thought. "At least before the chunin exams…"

"I know…I'll get around to telling them once I get used to it for combat." Naruto promised and shared a smile with his sensei before they both went their separate ways.

***FLASHBACK END***

Kakashi sighed and wondered if his blonde student would have to reveal that ability during this mission. It would be better than revealing the Kyubi, however…

A young girl in a light pink kimono walked into the forest with a small basket in her arm. Her eyes narrowed as she saw someone sleeping in the forest she was in. Her eyes looked at the black clad blonde before she realized he was one of the Konoha ninja from before. She slipped out a senbon from her sleeve and slowly moved it to his neck…before she decided against it and instead opted to shake him gently by the shoulder.

"Hey…wake up. You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here." This was the sound Naruto woke up to as he saw _the_ single most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had long brown hair and soft chocolate eyes and a warm smile.

"Thanks but I don't get sick very easily." Naruto explained.

Haku nodded and asked, "Why were you sleeping out here anyway?"

"Well you see I was out training late last night and I didn't feel like going back to the house…" Naruto replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"So you're a ninja?" Haku asked.

"Yup!" Naruto chirped happily.

"You seem pretty strong, why do you need to train?" Haku asked curiously.

"Well I'm not strong enough. You see we're on a mission and I need to be strong if I want to protect my friends!" Naruto pumped a fist in the air at this last part.

"So you have people that are precious to you?" Haku asked with interest in her voice.

Images of the old man at Ichiruka's, Ayame, The Hokage, Kakashi-sensei, Kiba, and Sakura to a degree flashed through his mind. "Yes. I don't have many but I'd protect them even if it took my life."

"Good." Haku answered as Naruto looked at her questionably.

"You see when a person has someone to protect, only then do they become truly strong. You will become strong Naruto-kun." Haku waved as she left a blushing Naruto behind.

"Wait!" Naruto called. "What's your name?"

"Haku." This was all the woman said as she departed, leaving a stunned Naruto left to think about what the strange beauty had said.

**Hey ya'll! I'm back after a quick week! This week went by so fast and I had barely any time to write! The average update time will be between 3 days to a week from now on, unless I get grounded or something. So do you think Haku should live or die? Zabuza? And don't forget to review and vote about the pairing! And yes, Haku is a girl.**

**Thanks for reading and please review, Narutofan401.**


	4. Battle on the Bridge: Enter Haku

More Than a Ninja

Chapter Four: Battle on the bridge

Hey everyone and welcome to Chapter 4, the battle on the bridge! To see the results of the poll about Haku and Zabuza just continue reading this chapter…about the pairing that poll will still be going for a couple more chapters, but see the bottom for more info! Thanks for all the reviews! I am so surprised at the response I'm getting for the fic. Also the days of the 5th-13th I will be gone in Costa Rica so I'll try to get 1 or 2 more chapters out before then. Now please enjoy!

* * *

Haku and Zabuza sat in their hideout, planning their next attack, when a certain annoying midget walked in.

"I can't believe this! Some demon you are, you couldn't even kill a couple of kids!" Gato accused, trying to sound deadly.

Zabuza growled at this. "I'll get them next time…"

Gato didn't look pleased as he reached for Zabuza's mask. "Let's see what you hide under here…" The man was shocked as a hand grabbed and snapped his arm, courtesy of Haku.

"Get your filthy hands off Zabuza-sama." Haku ordered with rage. This caused the two samurai to unsheathe their swords, only for Haku to appear between them with a senbon pointed at each neck.

Gato knew when he was in trouble. "Whatever. You better not fail next time or so help me…!" Gato yelled through the pain of his arm as he exited along with his Samurai junkies. Zabuza snorted muttering something about lousy weaklings having all the money.

* * *

Naruto came walking into the house in the morning, earning him an amused look from Kakashi.

"Where have you been?" Kakashi asked, reading his perverted book.

"I was training late outside and I decided to sleep outside." Naruto explained, leaving out the part about meeting Haku.

"Hmmm…" Kakashi mumbled as he giggled perversely at his book. Naruto just sat down at the kitchen and ate his cold breakfast wondering if the book Kakashi read every single day ever had an ending. Soon Kiba and Sakura appeared down the stairs.

"Good, you're all here. I figure it will be at least a week until Zabuza recovers from his Death-like state, so we have 5 more days to perfect the water walking exercise. By the end of the week I expect each of you to be able to walk on the water for prolonged periods of time." Kakashi explained, earning him three simultaneous 'Hai's.

As the week went on Sakura mastered the exercise by about the 4th day while Kiba mastered it on the 6th. We were now on the 7th as both the two stated genin were sitting at the table eating dinner.

"Where's Naruto?" Sakura wondered loudly.

"He's still working on that exercise…" Kiba answered. "I don't get why it's taking him so long…"

Kakashi answered this question for him. "Well you see Kiba, Naruto has much larger chakra reserves than you, or even me." This caused Kiba to go wide eyed. "Although this is a double edged sword as it makes his chakra control very bad…although knowing him he won't quit until he has learned it." Kakashi finished with a smirk. Kiba nodded at this, knowing the work antics of his teammate.

"So Kakashi-sensei when do you think Zabuza will be back?" Sakura questioned the Copy Nin.

"If I had to guess, I would say tomorrow or the day after…seeing it has been a week now…" Kakashi added as an after thought. Sakura frowned at this, inwardly scared that the man who had gone toe to toe with her sensei would be back with help from a mysterious hunter nin.

"I guess I'll go look for Naruto now…" Kakashi sighed as he stood up and closed his book.

* * *

Kakashi wandered into the area the team had been training at, to see an exhausted Naruto trying to make his way back to the house. He raised his eyebrow at this.

"I…I got it Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto panted as he fell backwards.

Kakashi was shocked at this. _'With the amount of Chakra that kid has I would have figured it'd take him at least another week…' _Kakashi thought to himself as he looked down to see his student unconscious with a smile on his face. _'Minato-sensei…he's so much like you were…'_ Kakashi thought in remorse as he picked up the blond and shusined back to the house.

The next day Kakashi, Sakura and Kiba sat at the table eating breakfast.

"Ok team today you are going to be accompanying Tazuna to the bridge with me, incase Zabuza is to come back." Kakashi stated. If he was worried about the battle to come he sure didn't show it.

"But sensei, what about Naruto?" Kiba asked loudly, reminding the team that their favorite blond still hasn't woken up.

Kakashi sighed. "He is still exhausted…let's just leave him be for now." The rest of the team nodded as they followed the two gray haired men to the bridge.

Team 7, minus one member, and Tazuna arrived at the bridge to see all the employees knocked unconscious. Kakashi narrowed his eye as the mist seemed to thicken.

"It's been a while, eh Kakashi?" Zabuza's voice seemed to come from all direction.

"Back on your feet so soon?" Kakashi asked as he expelled his chakra, causing the mist to scatter and reveal Zabuza and his young apprentice standing in the middle. "So we were right, the hunter was working with you!"

"Yes, it seems that way doesn't it?" The demon of the mist smirked as he created a half dozen water clones. "Haha look at this? Your student is shaking!"

Kiba frowned at this. "I'm shaking…in excitement." Kiba growled out as he ran and dispersed the 6 water clones in a few seconds.

"Hmm…looks like you might have a rival Haku." Zabuza pointed out the ice user.

"So it seems." She replied in a monotone voice.

"Sakura, you guard Tazuna. Kiba you will take on the Hunter-nin while I take on Zabuza." Kakashi ordered as he lifted up his headband, revealing the famed Sharingan in all of its glory.

At this the group separated leaving Zabuza and Kakashi standing there, waiting for the other to make a first move.

"You may have the Sharingan Hatake. But I know its weakness…you can't copy me if you can't see me!" The ex-mist nin smirked as the mist nearly doubled in thickness.

_'What are you doing Zabuza…You can't see either…'_ Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he whipped out a kunai just in time to block as a cleaver nearly sliced him in two.

"What are you doing Zabuza? You can't see either so what's the point of all this mist?" Kakashi asked to seemingly no one.

"I'm a master of silent killing. I don't need to see you to kill you." Zabuza pointed out, causing Kakashi to frown. This was going to be a long fight.

***********

Haku looked at Kiba apathetically through his mask. "Please surrender. I do not wish to hurt you."

"Yeah right! It's you who is going to be hurtin'!" Kiba yelled as he tossed his pup a soldier pill and he turned into a copy of Kiba. They then both got onto all fours and charged the fake Hunter-nin. Kiba tried to swipe Haku only for the ice user to block it and twist Kiba's arm. She then backhanded Kiba across the face.

"So be it." Haku stated calmly as she formed a set of seals. "**Ice release: One thousand needles!**" Haku called as a thousand needles formed into ice and flew right at Kiba who proceeded to slam his hand on the ground as a wall of earth came to stop the needles.

"**Earth release: Earth wall Jutsu.**" Kiba pointed out. Haku narrowed her eyes as she charged the Inuzuka with speeds that far outclassed his own. She threw a punch at him only to look in surprise as he caught the punch as flipped her over his shoulder.

"It looks like I'm going to have to get serious…" Haku stated in a monotone voice.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a yawn as he rubbed the gunk out of his eyes.

"Man I'm tired…" Naruto yawned to himself as he made his way downstairs, seeing Tsunami sit in a chair.

"Good morning Naruto-san." Tsunami nodded in his direction.

"Morning! Where's my team at?" Naruto asked.

"They already left. They thought it would be better to let you sleep seeing as how you overworked yourself last night." Tsunami answered causing Naruto to blink in surprise.

"What! They ditched me?!" He yelled as he ran upstairs calling something about getting his clothes on before he left.

Tsunami sighed as she turned back to the newspaper, only to hear a dark chuckle.

"Look what we got here…" A strange samurai said pointing to Tsunami.

"Heh…looks like this will be easier than I thought." The other one added as they grabbed Tsunami. This is what Inari came running into the room to see.

"Mom!" He yelled out.

"Inari run!" She cried out.

"Well Gato said we only need one hostage so we can just kill the kid." Samurai number one said to his partner.

"Don't you dare! If you kill him I'll bite my tongue off and choke on my blood!" Tsunami threatened.

"Whatever…I don't think you have the guts."

Naruto peeped down the stairs as he saw the Samurai about the slice the daughter of the bridge builder. _'Crap! There's no time to get there!'_ Naruto thought in panic until he remembered one way he would be able to save her. He calmed down as he 'jumped' over behind the samurai's, knocking the sword out of the man's hand.

"What the hell? Where did you come from?" the samurai said angrily looking at the black clad blond.

"That's none of your business." Naruto muttered as he kneed the man in the gut and used the surprise to flip over him and deliver a roundhouse kick the other man's face.

"Oh shit! He's a ninja!" The other man gasped in shock, praying for his life. At this Naruto smirked as he created a couple shadow clones to deal with the men.

"Thank you so much Naruto-nii-san! Mom could have died if you didn't kick those guy's butts!" Inari ran up to Naruto.

Naruto smirked at the affectionate name. "No problem. Now protect your mom here. I'm going to the bridge because if someone sent people here there must be trouble there as well." He reasoned as he waved goodbye and ran out the door, intent on saving his team from whatever had happened.

* * *

"Be prepared. This is my ultimate technique." Haku stated as her hand formed into a strange seal. **"Ice release: Demonic Ice Mirrors"** Soon Kiba finds himself surrounded by mirrors of ice. He wondered what kind of an attack this was. His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets after seeing Haku literally step into one. Soon he could see an image of Haku on all of the mirrors.

"You cannot win." Haku stated matter-of-factly.

Kakashi was having a tough time with this battle. It had been a long time since he'd fought someone this tough, probably back when he was in Anbu. Add to that the fact he was literally blind in this fact and you would see why Kakashi was not having the best day of his life.

"Hmm…Your student is as good as dead." Zabuza said confidently.

"Don't count my students out yet." Kakashi narrowed his eyes angrily.

"You don't understand. Haku has a bloodline limit allowing her to control ice to an astounding degree. With this jutsu she could possibly defeat me…" Zabuza trailed off as he disappeared into the mist again. Kakashi growled at his lack of sight once again.

"**Wind release: Great Breakthrough!"** All of a sudden a monstrous torrent of wind came exploding forward, dissipating the mist all around. _'Since when could Naruto make such a big gust of wind?'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

"Uzumaki Naruto reporting for service!" Naruto called as he entered the battle.

"Naruto! Go assist Kiba. He is in those mirrors; I'll back you up when I take care of eyebrows." Kakashi said pointing to the dome of mirrors.

"Hai Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled as he ran to the mirrors. Zabuza growled at this and moved to intercept him only for Kakashi to appear in front of him.

"Your fight is with me." Kakashi stated.

Naruto rushed inside the dome of mirrors to see Kiba with dozens of senbon sticking in various places on his body.

"Kiba! All you all right?" Naruto asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah…This guy…he can be everywhere at once…he's too strong for either of us." Kiba explained.

"Well let's work together." Naruto reasoned as he created a dozen shadow clones and had them attack each mirror individually, only for each to be dispelled in an instant.

"Any other bright ideas?" Kiba asked mockingly.

"I don't see you having any…" Naruto muttered under his breath while he starts a set of seals. "**Wind release: Great Breakthrough!"** He called as an impressive column of wind hits one of the mirrors head first.

"That isn't strong enough." A hauntingly familiar voice reasoned with Naruto. He knew he knew that voice. He just couldn't remember from where…

A set of senbon flew at Naruto as he made a set of seals and called out. "**Wind release: Wind Vortex!**" A vortex of wind surrounded him and knocked the senbon away.

He took a second to regain his bearings. Haku noticed him distracted and went in for the kill. _'I'm sorry Naruto-san…'_ Haku thought as she threw three well aimed senbon towards the thinking blond. Naruto noticed these to late as he braced himself for the unavoidable. He felt nothing and he opened his eyes to see Kiba lying on the ground, apparently have taken the senbon for him.

"Kiba…" Naruto muttered, on the verge of tears. "Why did you save me?!" He yelled angry at Kiba for saving him, but most of all angry at himself for being so weak to need to be saved.

"An Inuzuka always protects their pack…I'm sorry for how we didn't use to get along Naruto. I've come to think of you as a very good friend. Please Naruto don't ever give up…I know you can beat her…" Kiba finished as his head lowered.

"Is this the first time you've lost someone close to you? Your friend was very brave for doing this for you…" Haku started but was cut off as a swirl of fiery red Chakra erupted from the blond.

"**Shut up!" **Naruto shouted as the demonic chakra seemed to shape into a fox over his head.

_'Who is this boy?!' _Haku thought with panic.

Naruto literally vanished from his spot and appeared in front of the mirror, delivering a demonic chakra enhanced punch to it. The mirror shattered into thousands of pieces

Kakashi's eyes bulged as he became worried. _'Did the seal break?...No it just weakend…either way I need to finish this quick'_ Kakashi thought as he unrolled a scroll and swiped some of his blood on it. "**Earth release: Fang pursuit jutsu!**" Kakashi yelled as he waited for the results of his jutsu to take place. He wasn't disappointed as he heard his nin-dogs erupt from the ground and latch unto Zabuza's arms and legs.

"What the?" Zabuza yelled angrily.

"You thought I let you hit me for no reason? I used my blood to track you through the mist with my nin dogs. Now this is the end!"

Back with Naruto…

As the mirror shattered Haku was sent flying and Naruto appeared in front of her and delivered a punch to her face, shattering her mask. He took a look at her face and the demonic chakra seemed to vanish and Naruto took control again.

"Haku?" Naruto asked utterly confused.

"Hai. It is me Naruto-san." Haku said. _'I am sorry Zabuza-sama…I cannot defeat this boy. He is to strong. I am of no use to you anymore…'_

"Why are you working for a guy like Zabuza?" Naruto yelled as he pulled his hair out in frustration.

"Zabuza is my precious person. He cared about me when no one else did. Please Naruto, Strike me down now. Zabuza has no need for a broken tool…" Haku mumbled weakly.

"Why would you care what a guy like him thinks?" Naruto yelled shaking his head angrily.

"He was the only one who ever decided I was worth while. I once had a family. We lived in a snowy village in water country. I discovered my Kekkai Genkai my mother had passed down to me and I showed her. She hit me and told me to show no one of it ever again. Where I come from those with bloodline limits are feared and killed. My father then found my mother was a carrier of one. He killed her. He then tried to kill me but I retaliated and killed him before he could kill me…I killed my own father…" At this point Haku was trying vainly to hold back tears. "I had to flee and I lived with no one for a long time. Then Zabuza-sama found me. He gave me a purpose. He had use for me. For the first time in a long time I felt needed, I felt wanted. Since then my soul purpose, my dream, has been to help Zabuza achieve his dream. Although now Zabuza has no used for a broken tool…" Haku was now letting the tears fall freely.

_'She's just like me…'_ "I know what it's like. To be hated. To be alone. It's a horrible feeling isn't it? In my village I'm hated for reasons beyond my control. I never had a family. Please Haku there's so much more to life than you have experienced so far! I don't want to kill you!" Naruto pleaded.

Haku nodded grimly. "I'm begging you Naruto…Kill me…end it please!" Haku wept bitterly. "I killed your friend! Where is the rage you felt before?"

Naruto nodded and pulled out a kunai.

Kakashi then took a stance and went through a set of seals.

"Behold Zabuza. This is my one and only original Jutsu." At this point Kakashi focused his chakra to his hand and a ring of chakra seemed to surround him as a ball of chakra surrounded by lightning appeared in his hand. It made a sound that sounded like birds chirping.

_'I can—see his chakra?!' How is that possible?' _

"**Raikiri!"** Kakashi yelled out as he charged Zabuza.

Haku looked over in shock. He swatted Naruto's hand away.

"I'm sorry Naruto it looks like I'm still needed." She then disappeared in an ice mirror.

Naruto looked over to see Kakashi charging Zabuza. His eyes widened in shock as he 'Jumped' over to Zabuza and 'Jumped' away with him, narrowly evading Kakashi's Lightning blade. Haku's eye widened as she saw this and she stopped herself as she was just about punctured by the Konoha-nin's lightning attack.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?" Kakashi accused seriously.

"Kakashi-sensei you can't kill him! He means everything to Haku and she was about to give her life for him!" Naruto yelled defiantly.

Kakashi's eyes softened at that. He was now glad that he was sparred of soaking his blood in the innocent girl's blood. He knew what it was like to loose someone precious to you. It was a fate you wouldn't bestow on your worst enemy. All of a sudden they heard clapping. They turned to see Gato surrounded by an army of thugs.

"Some demon you are Zabuza? Not even being able to handle a couple of pansy leaf ninja…Oh well at least you tired each other out. You see I can't hire ninja from villages as they would betray me and you missing-nin are so expensive. So I just hire you and wear you down against other ninja and I have a group of thugs take you down at the end." Gato sneered as Zabuza narrowed his eyes in rage. "And after I'm done I can have some fun with you little whore who broke my arm."

At this point two enormous K.I.'s were felt as Naruto and Zabuza both growled.

"Kakashi-sensei, permission to kill Gato?" Naruto turned to his sensei and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Permission granted." He answered. As he said that Naruto whipped out a Kunai and seemed to vanish only to reappear directly in front of Gato as he plunged the kunai into the man's heart. He then 'Jumped' back to the group of ninja.

"Nifty trick you got there. How do you do that?" Zabuza asked with no small deal of curiosity in his voice.

"It's something I learned when I was younger. I can basically just teleport wherever I want to as long as I've been there or can see it." Naruto replied nonchalantly.

Sakura starred wide eyed at this. Naruto could teleport? Why hadn't he told her? When she thought about it she figured she hadn't ever been the nicest, hell she hadn't ever even been nice to the blonde haired boy. She made a vow to treat the blonde nicer from now on. That is, if they made it out of here…

"Hey! He killed our meal ticket! Let's get 'em!" One of the thugs yelled as the rest roared in approval, only to see a bolt hit the ground in front of their group. They turned to see a large group of villagers with weapons of all sorts lead by Inari.

"No way you're gonna kill the saviors of this country!" One man yelled as the rest agreed.

"Well we'll just have to kill them all!" The same bandit yelled.

Naruto seeing this put his hands into a familiar cross shaped seal. "**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" He yelled as 30 other black clad blondes stood beside him. Kakashi and Zabuza followed suit and created 10 of there own clones. This scared the crap out of the bandits.

"Run away!" one yelled as the group retreated into the forest.

Naruto moved to stop them but was halted when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Kakashi who just shook his head.

Kakashi turned to Naruto. "Where is Kiba?" He noticed Naruto's eyes suddenly look down and he started to shake.

"He's dead. He took a senbon aimed to kill me." Naruto replied shaking.

Kakashi's head lowered at this point. Another dead comrade…

"Actually" Haku piped in causing the three depressed Konoha-nin to look at her. "I didn't kill him. I merely put him in a death like state from which he should wake up from right…about…now." Haku said as they heard groaning and turned to see Kiba stretching out.

"You never did have the heart to kill…" Zabuza mused.

"I'm sorry Zabuza-sama…" Haku muttered, thinking she had let down the Demon of the mist.

"Don't worry about it. I am actually glad you are how you are. It would kill me for you to become a cold blooded killer like me." Zabuza pointed out, causing Haku to become happier.

Naruto turned to the duo. "What are you two going to do now?"

"I really don't know…" Zabuza muttered barely loud enough to hear.

"You could come back to Konoha with us?" Naruto suggested looking to Kakashi.

"I am sorry Naruto but it would be impossible to take in an A-rank nuke-nin like Zabuza. Haku maybe, but even that would be pushing it." Kakashi frowned.

"Awww…" Naruto sighed.

"I know!" Tazuna said loudly, surprising everyone. "You could stay in wave!"

"You would let us do that? Even after we tried to kill you?" Zabuza questioned with shock.

"I don't see why not! You eventually turned around and any friend of Naruto's is a friend of ours." Tazuna proclaimed loudly. Zabuza turned to Haku.

"It would be nice to finally settle down and get away from the Hunter-nin…" Haku agreed.

Kakashi then spoke up. "In our mission report we could report that you were eliminated so you will be removed from the bingo books and the Mist Hunters will stop their pursuit, for at least a little while?"

"You could arrange that?" Zabuza asked, not quite believing it.

"Being an elite jonin has its perks…not to mention Naruto is almost like a grandson to the Hokage." Kakashi mentioned with a smirk.

Zabuza nodded. It would be nice to finally settle down. If just for a little while…

* * *

Later at the House…

After dinner the six ninja took some time to relax for the first time in days. Naruto wondered up to his room. Seeing this Haku followed.

Naruto turned to see his door creak open. "Hello Haku-san."

"Hello Naruto-san…I just wanted to talk to you." Haku said.

"Sure." Naruto responded.

"I wanted to thank you for saving Zabuza-sama. And me as well." Haku admitted.

"It's no problem! It's just that you and I are a lot alike you know? I didn't want to see someone like you die." Naruto yelled happily.

"Yeah we are a lot alike." Haku agreed.

"Thanks for not, you know, killing me or my teammates." Naruto muttered as he remembered what he had done earlier. He had taken the life of a human, no matter how corrupt. It felt sickening…He couldn't even look at himself.

Haku frowned when he saw Naruto become deathly pale. "Are you alright Naruto?" She absentmindedly left off the '-san' suffix.

Naruto shook his head. "I can't believe I didn't even think about it…I killed that man…I took his life…" Naruto muttered darkly.

Haku frowned. She knew what it was like to commit a first kill; she had felt the same way. "Naruto…I know what it's like to kill someone for a first time. I've been there. But think about it; if you wouldn't have killed Gato he could have continued to destroy wave and kill countless other people. You did a great favor to many people. You saved hundreds at the cost of one corrupt man. I know it's hard to kill though…I still hate the mere thought of it." Haku reasoned with the depressed blond.

"I know…I understand all of that. But it still just doesn't feel right you know?" Haku nodded at this, feeling the same way.

"Naruto have you seen Akama…" Kiba yelled as he busted in the room and saw Naruto and Haku both sitting on the bed. His young teenage mind immediately inferred the obvious. "Naruto's I didn't know you and Haku were going out already?" Kiba accused smirking. This caused both Naruto and Haku to blush.

"That's not it!" Haku yelled, surprising both boys.

"We are NOT going out Kiba!" Naruto twitched as he playfully punched Kiba in the shoulder.

"Whatever you say…" Kiba smirked as he exited the room.

"Thanks for the talk…" Naruto looked into Haku's eyes seriously.

"No problem." Haku nodded as she exited the room.

* * *

One week later…

The next week flew by quickly with the Konoha-nin just basically lounging around Tazuna's house while Tazuna finished his bridge. It was unfortunately time for the Konoha-nin to leave though.

"Goodbye Naruto-nii-san!" Inari said, holding back tears.

"You don't need to cry pipsqueak, crying doesn't help anything." Naruto was also on the verge of tears, finally meeting people he considered family and having to leave so soon.

"Goodbye Kakashi-san, Sakura-san, Kiba-san, Naruto-san!" Tsunami called.

"Goodbye!" They all called back.

"See ya Cyclops, Doggy boy, Pinky, shortstuff." The demon of the mist called goodbye in his unique way.

"Goodbye Naruto" Haku smiled warmly at the blond haired boy. Naruto gave her his foxy grin.

"Seeya Haku! Seeya Tazuna. Seeya everyone!" Naruto yelled as they left down the bridge.

"Now all we need is a name for the bridge…" A random villager mused.

"I know! How about the Super Tazuna Bridge?" Tazuna asked seriously, earning him glares.

Inari then spoke up. "How about The Great Naruto Bridge?" Inari asked as everyone cheered.

"The Great Naruto Bridge It is!" Tazuna yelled as the entire village erupted into cheers and roars of approval. It looked like our favorite blond was on his way to becoming a legend. No one had a doubt in their mind that he would do great things.

* * *

Back in Konoha Kurenai was currently teaching her three genin, Sasuke, Hinata and Shino, how to climb trees without the use of hands when an Anbu arrived.

"What can I do for you Anbu-san?" Kurenai questioned.

"Uchiha Sasuke, if you will please follow me to the Hokage's office." The Anbu said, causing Kurenai to mentally let her guard down.

"Hn. Whatever." Sasuke replied as he followed the Anbu. They walked a few blocks until Sasuke noticed they had passed the Hokage's tower.

"Where are we going? The Hokage Tower is that way…" Sasuke pointed out.

"I know. We aren't going to see the Hokage." That was all the Anbu said in return. At this point Sasuke nodded and quietly moved his hand over his kunai pouch incase worse came to worse.

The Anbu member finally arrived at a strange building and formed some hand seals to make a door appear. He motioned for Sasuke to follow and they walked deep into the dark room until they came to a large room that looked like it would be used for meetings.

"Uchiha Sasuke…I'm pleased to finally meet you…" The man smirked. He seemed to only have one arm, if the bandages around a stump coming from his elbow were any indicator. He also had bandages wrapped around only one of his eyes. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at this.

"Who are you?" He asked with venom laced in his voice.

"My my, very quick to mistrust? I like that. And to answer your question…my name is Danzo."

**A/N: Cliffy! Haha I am so evil! What does Danzo want with Sasuke? Well you just have to read and find out! Also the pairings have come to a sudden death and I need you, my loyal readers, to vote between Ino and Temari to be paired with Naruto. I can work either out but Haku is going to be more of a sister figure. I command you to review and all your life's dreams will be for filled. All you have to do is press the little button….Lol jk but seriously Thank you for reading and reviewing! Also I will be using English Jutsu for almost all of them. The few exceptions are Raikiri, Chidori, and Rasengan which will probably be the only Japanese versions of Jutus I will use.**

**Narutofan401.**


	5. The Chunin Exams and new enemies

More than a Ninja

Chapter 5: The Chunin Exams!

Hello everyone and thank you all for being here to witness the fifth installment of More than a ninja. I am extremely happy that this story is already more than half way to one hundred reviews. Incase you suck at math that means I am a little over 50 reviews! Also I am sorry I could have finished this chapter faster but I was playing Mod2. I am very sad because my goal for the last couple days has been to get the nuke knifing. The last game I played I had a 24 killstreak when the server timed out. Oh well whatcha gonna do? This chapter will go through the 2nd stage of the chunin exams! Now without further ado please enjoy!

*********

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at this. "Who exactly _are _you?"

Danzo chuckled evilly at this. "Well boy, who I am, is on a need to know basis. However I can offer you something you deeply desire." This caught Sasuke's attention.

"And what is that?" He asked, not fully trusting the bandaged man.

"The power to kill your brother and avenge your clan." Danzo smirked, knowing that he was apart of his so called evil brother's plot to kill the Uchiha. Of course Sasuke didn't need to know this…

"How exactly could someone like you give me power?" Sasuke asked, referring to the old cripple's look.

"Well I may not look like it but I was a prime candidate for Sandaime Hokage. I also was in charge of a special group of Anbu, called root." Danzo clarified, making the young Uchiha smirk. With a man who could have been Sandaime he knew he could gain power.

"Now you cannot tell anyone of our meeting. You can tell me your decision in two months time. Until then here is a little present to sweeten the deal…" the old war hawk said as he tossed a scroll to Sasuke. Sasuke looked over it once before a smirk plastered itself onto his face. _'Maybe this man can really give me the power I need…'_

***

Team 7 was currently waiting for their tardy sensei to grace them with their presence. They were used to it as the Jonin was late for just about everything possible. Just as they thought that a puff of smoke erupted, alerting them to their sensei's arrival.

"Yo!" He called, flashing them his eye smile.

"You're late!" The three genin called in harmony. Kakashi just pulled out his book.

"While you see, I was on my way here when I saw a black cat run in front of me, under a ladder. I then decided to take the long way, not wanting to risk having bad luck." Kakashi explained, not once taking his eye of his book.

"Yeah right!" Naruto called angrily.

"That's got to be the lamest excuse you've ever had." Sakura pointed out.

"Oh come on…I'm sure I've had lamer…What about that time where I claimed to have run into a witch and for her to have turned me into a lizard?" Kakashi mused, causing his three genin to nod their heads in acknowledgement.

"Well today I will be teaching you three a more advanced, B ranked, Jutsu." Kakashi explained, causing Sakura's eyes to widen, Kiba to smile broadly and Naruto to show no outward sign of emotion. However on the inside he was beaming at the chance to learn a better Jutsu. "These jutsu will take a while to learn, much less master, but I'm confident they are within your abilities. Kiba I will be teaching you the **Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction**. This technique allows you to dislodge rocks above an opponent to crush, or capture them." He then showed Kiba the hand signs and pointed to a cliff for him to go practice at it. "Naruto, the jutsu I will be teaching you is the **Wind release: Wind dragon jutsu**. As the name states, this jutsu allows the user to create a dragon made out of wind" After this he showed Naruto the hand seals and witnessed Naruto run off to learn his new technique. "Sakura, I was originally planning on teaching you the water dragon but I don't think you have the reserves to utilize it…" Kakashi pondered on the question before finishing. "Instead I will be teaching you a jutsu you saw Zabuza use on me. It's called **Water release: Water Prison Jutsu**. It allows the caster to trap their victim in a dome of water. However, you have to always have one arm connected to maintain the prison." At this Kakashi showed the pink haired girl the seals before he looked up to see a bird flying overhead.

_'Looks like it's that time of the year already…'_ Kakashi thought as he disappeared in a plumb of smoke.

**********

In the Hokage's office, all of the Jonin sensei's in the village seemed to be gathering for an important announcement. The announcement would have already started had it not been for a certain tardy Jonin who choose now to appear in the room via the Body Flicker.

"Did I miss anything?" He asked innocently as he read his book titled, Icha Icha Paradise.

"Now that Kakashi is done making us wait…" The Hokage cleared his throat. "It is once again Konoha's turn to host the biannual Chunin Selection exams. I have called you all here to ask if there is any in this room that believe their team is ready to participate in the exams." The Sandaime concluded. This caused all the Jonin to register their students until it came to a certain batch of students.

Maito Gai stepped up the Hokage. "I, Maito Gai, hereby recommend my genin team consisting of Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten to participate in this year's chunin exams." Gai concluded, not mentioning youthfulness once.

Next up was Asuma, much to the surprise of the other jonin. It wasn't every day when rookies were recommended. "I, Sarutobi Asuma, do hereby recommend my team consisting of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji to participate in the exams." The smoker finished as he took a long drag from his cigarette. Next Kurenai came up the desk, making some of the Jonin think there was some kind of competition going on between the rookie's jonin-sensei.

"I, Yuhi Kurenai, hereby state that my team consisting of Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Aburame Shino are ready for this year's Chunin Selection Exam."

Some of the Jonin nodded their heads at this, knowing that a team stacked with an Uchiha and a Hyuga was bound not to disappoint. Next the ever lazy Kakashi stood up.

"I, Hatake Kakashi, recommend my group of genin consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba and Haruno Sakura to participate in the Chunin exams this year." He finished as he closed his book. Hearing this Iruka stood up angrily. He had been getting steadily angrier as each rookie team was announced.

"Hold up! I taught most of these kids personally and I don't know if they're ready for the chunin exams! They just graduated for god's sake!" Iruka yelled, thinking of one student in peculiar.

Kakashi merely looked at him indifferently. "I became a chunin when I was more than 4 years younger than Naruto…" He went off.

"You can't compare him with yourself Kakashi!" Iruka started only for the masked jonin to interrupt him.

"And besides…as soon as these three genin became part of my team they are no longer your students, but my soldiers. I think I know if they are ready for this test, Iruka.

The aged Hokage sighed at this, knowing the two men both had good points. "Iruka it is ultimately Kakashi's decision if he wants to admit his team into these exams. Now the rest of you, you are dismissed please train your teams and make Konoha proud!" Sarutobi finished off strongly as his Jonin bowed and disappeared in puffs of smoke.

_'I do hope the young genin are ready for the task at hand…there hasn't been three rookie teams nominated for the chunin exams since long before I was around…'_ Sarutobi sighed as he took a long puff of his pipe.

**********  
Team 7 had just finished their training when Naruto offered going to Ichiruka's to celebrate their learning of advanced jutsu, his treat. Sakura and Kiba's eyes widened at this, it wasn't everyday Naruto offered to treat somebody to ramen. On the way the three young genin bumped into a certain group of academy students.

"Hey boss you promised you would play ninja with us today!" Konohamaru whined as he pleaded with his older brother figure.

Naruto sighed at this. "You're right I did….Is it okay if I call a rain check about our ramen guys?" Naruto turned to his teammates.

Kiba nodded and Sakura turned to him. "Whoever heard of a ninja playing ninja?" She asked rhetorically.

Konohamaru looked at her quizzically for a moment until he nodded in understanding. "Hey boss, is that your girlfriend?" He asked, pointing his thumb towards Sakura.

"No!" Naruto and Sakura yelled at the same time.

Udon whispered to Konohamaru and he giggled for a second until he turned back to the group. "Well that's good. I know you could do way better than this flat chest skank." He pointed out innocently.

Sakura's eyes glowed white and a tick mark appeared on her head. "What did you just say?" She asked maliciously.

"Run!" Kiba spewed out as the three young children took off in a cloud of dust, followed by an enraged Sakura and a sympathetic Naruto. Konohamaru continued to blindly run until he bumped into something hard, knocking him on the ground.

"Hey watch where you're going!" The man yelled as he picked up the young boy by his shirt. This man looked to be about Naruto's age and he seemed to be wearing a black jumpsuit with cat ears. He also seemed to have strange purple make up on his face. Naruto couldn't help but notice a blonde beauty standing next to him. She wore a light purple shirt with a mesh top underneath it. She had a similar colored short skirt and had her dirty blonde hair tied up into four ponytails. What further intrigued Naruto was her large battle fan, signaling her as a wind user, much like our blonde hero.

"Kankaro, put him down before you get in trouble. Especially if _he _finds out." She seemed afraid at the mention of this certain 'he'.

"Don't worry Temari I'm just going to teach the brat a little respect. And by the way Gaara isn't even around here…" He turned to see a pink haired girl arrive with a blonde haired boy. They seemed to be around his age.

"Please let him go. We were just roughhousing and I am sorry he bumped into you." Sakura pleaded as Konohamaru struggled against the hold of the much stronger person.

"I don't think so. What are you going to do about it?" Kankaro mocked.

"I advise you set down the Hokage's grandson before you cause an international crisis. It's not wise to upset the leaders of allied countries." Naruto pointed out, causing Kankaro to drop the now identified Hokage's son in shock.

"Good going you baka!" The blonde haired girl yelled at her seemingly teammate.

"Your friend also doesn't look too pleased with you." Naruto pointed to a redhead standing upside down from a tree. At the mention of said 'friend', both Suna-nin turned to see the red-headed boy. They both then seemed to take a step back in fear. He was wearing a plain black shirt with a mesh shirt underneath. He had on a brown sash over this and he finished the look with black baggy pants. What was most peculiar was the large gourd that was strapped on his back. He also seemed to scare the crap out of his teammates.

"Kankaro. You are an embarrassment to Suna." Gaara stated in a monotone voice as he appeared in-between of his two teammates. "I apologize for my brother's idiocy. He can be rather thoughtless at times."

Naruto seemed shock that siblings would treat each other with such fear and coldness. "I-it's no problem. What are you doing in Konoha anyway?" Naruto asked, generally curious.

Temari took the liberty to answer. "Why, the chunin exams, of course." She answered with a smirk. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the natural beauty standing in front of him. Seeing him stare the Suna-nin had to fight down a blush at the rather attractive blonde checking her out.

"I see. What are your names?" Naruto asked, not having been formally introduced.

Kankaro started only for Naruto to interrupt. "Not you, I was talking about your lovely sister and your rather cold brother." At this the blonde looked rather surprised, having never really been flirted with before. No one really wanted to be associated with anyone related to Gaara, not that she could blame them.

Gaara answered first. "My name is Sabuku no Gaara. This is my sister Temari. What are your names?" He asked. Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that this guy was more than meets the eyes. Something about him seemed familiar yet at the same time absolutely terrifying.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and this is my teammate Haruno Sakura." Naruto answered, trying to calm himself down.

Gaara was also interested in the blonde. He would prove his existence and please his mother very well. "I look forward to facing you in the exams." With this he turned and motioned for his siblings to follow suit. The blonde girl, Temari, winked at Naruto and turned around.

"Do you think Kakashi-sensei will enter us in the exam?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know. I would guess he would though, seeing how we have completed the minimum amount of missions and he just recently sprung a B ranked Jutsu on us." Naruto reasoned as he waved goodbye to his teammate and walked home. He couldn't stop thinking about the three strange Suna-nin he had just met. If it was intoxicating blonde girl, the easily angered black clad boy or the red headed boy he didn't know. He thought the red-head seemed to have a certain bloodthirsty quality. All in all Naruto knew this was not a team to be messing with.

*******************

The next day the three genin arrived at their training field to surprisingly see their sensei on time. They didn't question it though, not wanting it to become some kind of illusion.

"Good morning team. I'm proud to announce that I have nominated you all in the upcoming Chunin exams." Kakashi handed the three the forms. He noticed Kiba seemed to be happier than usual, Naruto seemed to be excited and Sakura seemed a tad bit unsure of herself. "This is not required and not all three of you have to show up. If you do plan on going please report to the academy room 301 tomorrow morning at 9 am."

Naruto looked disappointed, most likely in the fact that he had yet to learn how to effectively use his new jutsu. Of course Kakashi hadn't expected him to, considering it had only been one day. He then smiled at his team and gave them the day off, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Naruto, Kiba and Sakura walked home all wondering what the future would hold for them.

*************

Naruto woke up early the next morning, too excited to sleep in. He quickly finished his morning rituals and made his way to the academy. On the way he met up with his two teammates, smiling at them as they joined him in his walk.

"So you guys are doing it?" Naruto asked.

"Course I am! Was there ever a doubt?" Kiba challenged cockily while Sakura just nodded her head as they made their way to the academy. They walked up two flights of stairs when they saw a group of genin surrounded a door labeled, '301'. Sakura immediately realized it was a genjutsu, do to only have tracked two sets of stairs. She silently asked her team if they should bring that fact out into the open. She saw Kiba shake his head 'no' as they proceeded up to the third floor, barely missing the commotion a certain Uchiha was about to cause.

They arrived at the door labeled 301 and were surprised to see their sensei standing there lazily reading his book.

"Glad to see you all made it; otherwise none of you could have taken the test." Kakashi explained as the three genin all looked unsure about this.

"What do you mean? You said it was an individual thing?" Kiba inquired.

"I said that because I didn't want anyone pestering another to participate. I wanted you all to choose to on your own free will. I'm proud to say you have all taken your first step into these exams. Don't take them lightly as there is almost certainly going to be killing involved. I believe in you and please make me proud." Kakashi finished as he let his three genin into the door. He was about to warn them not to bring too much attention onto himself when he decided against it. "Naruto." He called as his student turned around. "Give them hell." Naruto grinned at this and made his way into the room.

The three genin were surprised at the sheer number of people in the small room. They looked around for a bit until they spotted Shikamaru's team.

"Hey Shika!" Naruto called affectionately towards the lazy brunette.

"Troublesome…you guys are in this exam too?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah we are and we're going to take this exam by storm!" Kiba yelled as Akamaru ruffed in agreement. Sakura merely nodded her head while Naruto decided to speak up.

"You hear that everyone? There's no way you're going to beat us!" Naruto yelled, causing the rest of the room to glare at him. Naruto merely shrugged off the K.I., after all Zabuza's had been much worse.

Soon enough Team 8 walked in and Sasuke appeared to have recently been in a fight.

"Sasuke-kun! You made it!" Ino yelled as she groped the brooding Uchiha. Sakura glared at the offender.

"Knock it off Ino-pig Sasuke-kun is mine!" She yelled. Naruto and Kiba sighed at this. They had thought her fan girl days were over.

"You guys made it too?" Kiba asked towards the shy Hyuga and quiet Aburame.

"Indeed. Our sensei nominated us to participate in this exam." The quiet boy muttered causing Shikamaru to groan out 'Troublesome'.

As the rookies were talking an older looking man wearing a set of purple clothes walked up. "You rookies may want to keep it down. It seems you have made a lot of enemies." The nine genin looked around to see the rest of the room glaring at them; however a certain Sand team seemed to be indifferent about the whole thing. They all shrugged sheepishly, while all of them expect for the every quiet Shino and Sasuke.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"My name is Kabuto. I've taken this exam a fair amount of times."

"How many is that?" Choji asked through a mouthful of chips.

"Seven to be exact." The glasses wearing man replied.

"You must suck." Kiba put it bluntly.

"Well you'd be surprised how hard these exams can be. But it isn't all bad as I've been able to collect a lot of information for my ninja info cards. Do you care to know anything about anyone participating?" Kabuto asked.

Sasuke was the first to voice his suggestion. "Rock Lee of Konoha."

Naruto soon followed. "And that team from Suna."

Kabuto merely scoffed. "You know their names? That's too easy." He shuffled through his cards until pulling out one and adding chakra to it to show a picture of Lee. "Rock Lee is a genin one year older than you guys. His mission record is 31 D ranks and 13 C ranks. Wow! His taijutsu is off the charts while his Nin and Genjutsu and nonexistent." He finished, causing Sasuke to frown.

"Let's see…oh here we go! The Suna team consists of Sabuku no Temari, Sabuku no Gaara and Sabuku no Kankaro. It says here they are the Kazekage's kids! As a team they have completed 13 C rank missions and wow 1 B ranked! As individuals it says that Temari specializes in wind ninjutsu, using her fan to project wind attacks at her opponents. Kankaro seems to be a puppeteer, using advanced chakra control to control his puppet. The third one, Gaara, doesn't seem to have any information, although it says he's returned from all of his missions unscratched." Kabuto took a breath. "That is a very impressive record. They seem to be one of the top teams in this exam."

Naruto was inwardly impressed at the record of the Suna-team. Especially considering the red-head hadn't even gotten a scratch.

"Who are those people over there with the musical notes on their heads?" Ino asked with surprise.

"Oh those? Well they aren't anything to worry about. They are from a new village called Otogakure, the village hidden in the sounds. The village is fairly new so I wouldn't worry about them all too much." Kabuto finished as he noticed the Sound Genin charging him. He smirked as he dodged a punch aimed at him from the bandaged nin and smirked at the effortless dodge. His eyes widened when all of a sudden his glasses broke and he landed on his hands and knees and puked.

"That will teach you to bad mouth Oto!" A brown haired girl growled and another boy was about to continue until the doors busted open revealing a group of chunin with a man wearing a black trench coat in the middle. He had a bandana style headband and had numerous scars running down the length of his face.

"There will be no fighting before the exam! Do you want to get disqualified Oto genin?" He asked in a deadly voice as he flooded the room with his killing intent. The oto genin gulped and the seemingly leader answer.

"No sir. I'm sorry we just get riled up when agitated." He explained as the proctor blew his excuse off.

"Now everyone please line up in single filed lines and take a number out of this box. This will be the seat you are assigned to." After the scarred special jonin said this, the genin all followed suit and were soon in their respective seats. Naruto noted his was right next to Hinata's.

"My name is Morino Ibiki. Okay you little worms this is the first exam of the chunin exams and it's going to be a written test." As he said this he heard loud groans coming from all but a certain pinkette and pineapple haired genin. "Quiet! As I was saying, this test will have a total of ten questions. Each person will start out with 10 points and will be deducted one point for each question they get wrong. If you are caught cheating you will automatically be deduced two points. That means if you are caught five times you and your team is out! You have 45 minutes to complete the first nine questions, and the last question will be given when there are 15 minutes left. Now I wish you all good luck. You are going to need it." The intimidating proctor murmured the last part as all the young ninja started vigorously working on their test. Sakura wasn't worried. She knew she could probably get enough points to pass even if either of her teammates screwed it up.

"Oh, and by the way. If any of you or your teammates gets a 0….you automatically fail!" Ibiki growled out as the young genin looked shocked. Kiba and Naruto couldn't shake the feeling someone was glaring a hole in the back of their heads.

Naruto looked over the questions, trying to find at least one he could answer. _'Darn it! These questions are impossible! I can't fail though otherwise I'll hold Kiba and Sakura back too…Maybe if I cheat…? But wait then I could get marked two points down…' _The blonde jinchuriki thought with a frown. Then it hit him. _'Two points? Every time I've ever taken a test if you got cheating you'd automatically fail…And these questions seem way too hard for anyone but maybe Sakura to answer…I get it! We have to cheat!' _Naruto mentally patted himself on the back at this conclusion. He heard a few barks and figured Kiba had caught on as well. He lazily yawned and stretched his vision to see various other members cheating as well. His only problem was he didn't have a special bloodline or even a jutsu that would help him cheat. He immediately browsed his brains for ideas and was surprised when he heard a low whistle and turned to see a kunai impale the person sitting in front's paper.

"Number 43, fail. Numbers 44 and 45, fail!" The proctor called out as the genin yelled in outrage, only to be silenced with a concentrated burst of killing intent. Naruto gulped, he'd have to cheat stealthily. Unfortunately he was more of a 'Run in and kick asses' type of guy…Maybe a shadow clone? He quickly threw that idea out as the proctors would see the puff of smoke. Hundreds of ideas soared through his head, all being thrown out, in the next 40 minutes. He causally glanced at the clock to see there was only 3 minutes left until the final question. Crap! He'd have to put it all on the final question.

"A-ano, Naruto-kun. You can copy off of my test?" The timid girl sitting next to him whispered. He was surprised the Hyuga heiress would do that for him. He was going to say yes when he remembered what would happen if he got caught…

"It's fine Hinata. What kind of Hokage would I be if I needed to copy someone else's answers?" He responded with his foxy grin, making Hinata turn a deep red. He was surprised at this and ideally wondered if the Hyuga was sick. He was interrupted from his musing when Ibiki cleared his throat.

"All right worms it's time for the final question. Now this question is completely optional, meaning you can back out now." Ibiki started, letting the statement set in.

"Well why wouldn't we take it? That would be stupid." Temari pointed out.

"Under normal circumstances it would…But should you choose to not take it you will automatically fail, and can try again in six months. _Should_ you take it, and fail, you will not only be failed along with your teammates but you will never be able to take these exams again!" The sadist finished with a malicious grin.

"That's bull! There are plenty of people who have taken it several times!" Kiba accused, thinking of Kabuto who had apparently taken it seven times.

"Well tough luck. This year it's my rules." That was all Ibiki replied. After these words people began raising their hands like crazy, soon the room was half of the normal capacity. Naruto knew he wouldn't back down from this but was slightly worried about his teammates. He glanced over to see not only Sakura preparing to raise her hand but inwardly noted that Temari was thinking about it as well before a resolve set on her face and she put it down. Naruto decided it was time to make a stand. He slowly rose his hand up.

_'No way…Naruto is backing down?' _Sakura thought worriedly.

_ 'What? Why would he back down so early? Was he all talk?' _The sand maiden thought, with a hint of worry. She continued to watch only for Naruto to slam his palm onto his desk with a look of renewed vigor upon his face.

"You don't scare me! There's no way I am going to fail this after coming so far! Even if I stay a genin forever I'm still going to become Hokage!" The blonde yelled with complete confidence in his statement. Ibiki blinked and rubbed his eyes, seeing an image of his late leader standing besides the blonde.

"Nice talk kid, but is there anyone else here that wants to back down?" Ibiki inwardly cursed seeing no one else raise there hands. This kid sure would make a fine leader. "Well then to the rest of you…you pass!" His words seemed to lighten at this.

"What! What was the point of the last question then? Or even the first nine?" Sakura yelled, angry at having all her time wasted.

"That's easy…sometimes as a Chunin there are times where you are given a mission, not knowing much information at all." He started as he slowly took of his bandana, revealing very harsh looking scars. He saw looks of disgust flash through the remaining genin's faces. "But can you simply not do it? The answer is hell no. You can't refuse the mission. To answer your other question the first nine questions were to test your information gathering skills. Those were questions mere genin shouldn't be able to answer. We had placed 4 plants stationed across the room, already knowing the answers to the test. Your job was to get the answers without getting caught. Sometimes information can be more valuable then anything else." Ibiki finished as he pointed at his scared visage. He then sighed as he felt a familiar signature approaching.

All of a sudden a small ball crashed through the window with a sign attached to it. The sign read 'Mitarashi Anko, the sexy and single proctor of the second exam'. Soon enough a very sexy looking women appeared through the same window. She wore, or didn't wear, it was kind of like looking at a glass half empty or half full, a tight mesh top going down to her legs, and this was covered by a very short brown pair of shorts. She topped it off with a long trench coat that went to her knees. Somehow it allways covered her 'assets' perfectly.

"Welcome maggots!" She started only to look at the room for a second. "Twenty six teams? You must be getting soft in your old age Ibiki." Anko scoffed at the amount of people.

"Or perhaps we just have an exceptional batch this year." Ibiki reasoned.

"Either way, I'll cut them down by atleast half." The purple haired women grinned as she continued, "Now meet me at training ground 44 in 30 minutes, and don't be late!" She yelled as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto gulped, not knowing if he should be attracted the woman or absolutely terrified of the woman. He decided on the latter. He soon got up at followed his team out the door.

Ibiki was walking around the room collecting tests when he stopped at a certain blonde haired boy's desk. _'Are you joking me? He didn't even answer a single question…? Just who are you Uzumaki Naruto?'_

******

Team 7 soon arrived at training ground 44, nicknamed the forest of death. They saw the rest of the teams had already arrived and waited patiently until the crazy proctor arrived.

"Good to see you all made it. As you probably already know my name is Mitarashi Anko. I will be in charge of this part of the exam. This next part will be survival training. _Literally__**.**_**" **Most of the genin visibly shook at this mere word, the tone behind it seemed deadly. "Each of you will start out with one scroll. A heaven or an Earth." The purple haired woman said as she held up one of each. "The goal is to get the opposite scroll in any way possible. This, of course, includes killing. Now will you all please sign a release form stating that if you die it was your own fault?" The tone the strange woman used in her voice seemed almost innocent…almost.

Naruto walked into the booth with his team and they were handed an Earth scroll. _'So we need a heaven scroll huh…'_

Anko then gave each team a different gate to start at. When they were all situated properly she yelled over the loudspeakers. "Begin!" As soon as that word uttered from her mouth the gates flew open as dozens of genin darted in, ready for anything.

********

"So what's the plan?" Ino asked towards her lazy teammate.

"Well I guess we should probably get a earth scroll…." Shikamaru mused out loud causing Ino to twitch.

"Of course we need an earth scroll you baka! I meant, how are we going to get one?" She screamed as she flailed her arms.

"Well first things first. I don't think we should attack any of the other rookies, or the team one year ahead of us. And definitely not the Suna-nin." Shikamaru explained.

"Well I get why we wouldn't go after Team 8 because they have Sasuke-kun and two other clan heirs, but why wouldn't we go after Foreheads team? They seem to have the weakest of all the teams." Ino offered.

Choji shook his head at this and spoke through a mouthful. "They have _the_ Hatake Kakashi as their sensei; they are bound to learn something."

"It's troublesome but I agree with Choji. They are one of the last teams I want to fight."

**********  
Naruto, Kiba and Sakura jumped through the trees at breakneck speeds. Kiba led the way using his nose and Akamaru to try and spot any other teams. They so far hadn't had any luck.

"Man! Where is everyone else?" Naruto whispered in an annoyed tone.

"Heck if I know. We are bound to run into someone…" Sakura countered.

Kiba took a long whiff and silently signaled to move into the trees. They weren't disappointed when they saw the Suna-nin being confronted by ninja from rain.

"If you will just give us your scroll no one will get hurt." The leader tried to reason with the young kids. He only got a glare curtsey of the redhead in front of him.

"Well don't say I didn't warn you." He then untied his umbrella from his back and threw it up in the air, only for it to sprout thousands of needles and for them to fly directly at Gaara. "Ha not so tough now are you?" When the smoke cleared he saw a completely unharmed Gaara surrounded by a wall of sand.

"Is that all you got? You bore me." At this Gaara raised his hand forward as a large column of sand shot out at the three rain nin. It quickly wrapped around their carcasses. "Sand Coffin." The deranged redhead then clenched his fist as the sand squeezed the life out of the three rain nin in a very gory fashion. "Sand burial."

Naruto silently signaled for his team to retreat as they took off full speed hoping to get as far away from that guy as possible. When Naruto thought they were far enough away he took a break and held himself up with his knee panting.

"Guys…If either of you has to fight that guy in the finals. Give up." Naruto stated through pants. He wasn't sure he would even want to fight that guy

"That guy was a monster…"Sakura shivered out.

"Yeah…Akamaru was whimpering the entire time. That guy is not someone I'd like to fight…" He agreed to the statement.

"It looks like we've been found out…" Naruto pointed out as a group of rather weak looking ninja jumped out. They each appeared to be in their mid twenties. The first one looked to be a man with an average build. He seemed to be about 5'9" with dark brown hair and his headband tied around his bicep. He carried a long spear on his back. The second was an enormous man with a pair of giant gauntlets looking to be made out of steel. He was bald and wore his headband as a bandana. The third member was an average looking girl with light red hair tied into a ponytail. She appeared to wield a ninja-to.

"Give up now or we might just hurt you." The first man piped up.

"Yeah or else we might kill you!" The larger man finished.

"How do you even know we have the scroll you want?" Sakura asked questionably.

"Well…umm…we don't but either way we might as well get rid of the competition!" The larger man yelled again, causing Sakura to scoff at the apparent lack of a plan. "I'll take the blonde pipsqueak." Soon enough he charged said blond and tried to punch him, only for Naruto to flip over the punch and land a roundhouse kick onto his opponents kick. He smirked at his opponent's apparent lack of any common sense.

"No wonder you're still a genin…You suck." Naruto pointed out, trying to egg his opponent on.

"Why you little brat!" He then formed a set of hand seals and called out. "**Water release: Water Drill Jutsu.** After the large man said this, a speedy bullet made out of water went flying towards Naruto, who quickly after regaining his bearing dodged and sent a trio of shuriken at the larger man. The giant just merely blocked them with his gauntlet, only for one of them to poof into a Naruto clone who delivered a jab at his neck, effectively knocking him out.

Kiba was left facing the smaller man who used a spear for a weapon. "Come on lets see what you got!" He then raced through some hand signs. "**Earth release: Earth Spear Jutsu.**" With this call Kiba reached his hand into the ground and pulled a long spear made of earth.

"You think you can beat me at my own game?" The man taunted as he lunged towards the younger boy, taking advantage of his longer reach to quickly try and hit Kiba with the flat end of his spear. Expecting this, Kiba dodged to the side and quickly slashed at his enemy's face with his claws. The older man barely dodged and they continued trading blows with their spears until the older man began a long set of hand signs. Kiba didn't want to see the end of this set of hand seals so he quickly nodded his head as there was a loud call of: "**Fang over Fang!**" As Akamaru come crashing into the spear wielding man, knocking him out cold.

Sakura was starring down he opponent, looking for weaknesses.

"You aren't a real ninja. I bet you care more about your hair then you do about your training." The older woman mocked, causing Sakura to growl. She then remembered her training and started a set of seals.

"**Water release: Bullet Jutsu.**" She then took a big breath as she exhaled a bullet of water, ramming right into the torso of her opponent. The sword wielder was caught off guard at the sudden attack and was sent flying into the nearby river. She then noticed the water seemed to become heavier as she heard Sakura mutter, "**Water release: Water Prison Jutsu.**" She was then caught in a dome of chakra. She knocked the older woman out and returned to her teammates.

"Hey guys, I found a Heaven scroll!" Kiba yelled in joy as he showed his team the acquired scroll. He smirked at the ease of this exam so far. Maybe if the older team hadn't been so overconfident they would still be fighting…As he went over this in his head he was completely unaware of the trouble team 8 was currently in.

"Sweet! Let's head to the tower now!" Naruto chirped happily as Sakura tied up the three other genin. They were soon traveling through the forest at blinding speeds as they tried to make it to the tower without being noticed.

"Man…Why can't you just jump us there?" An annoyed Kiba grumbled out.

"It's not that easy. The only places I can jump are places I've been or can see…"Naruto explained, earning him another groan from the bored Inuzuka. Naruto suddenly stopped on the tree, causing Sakura to bump into him and Kiba to quickly plant his feet in the tree.

"Why did we--" Sakura started. She looked on in shock when two dark-clad figures emerged from the Shadows.

Naruto quickly reached for a kunai. "Who are you?" The larger man removed his hat, revealing blue shark like skin and gills. He also had razor sharp teeth. The second man removed his hat to reveal raven colored hair tied into a short pony tail with a fully mature red Sharingan. He also had two distinctive lines under his eyes.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, and my partner is Hoshigaki Kisame. I'll give you one chance to come with us now and nobody will get hurt." The two figures wore black cloaks going down to their knees with red clouds on them.

*******  
**A/n: Done! Well I leave for Costa Rica tomorrow so I won't be able to update for a couple weeks. I want to thank you all once again for reading and reviewing and please tune in next time for: More than a Ninja Chapter 6: The Akatsuki and the perverted sage. Now read and review on the double, and that's an order!**


	6. The Akatsuki and the Toad Sage

More Than a Ninja 6: The Akatsuki and the perverted sage

Hello everyone! I am currently in Costa Rica and I have found my dad's laptop! So I decided to write now. I am kind of disappointed in the lack of reviews for last chapter. I had plenty of hits but not very many reviews :(. I don't care if you leave small little reviews but anything that lets me know that you like my story helps! I will keep writing the story no matter what but the more reviews do help me update faster.

*********  
Anko was happily munching on a stick of dango, dangling her legs off the side of a rock. She finished the stick and threw it into a tree, finishing up a perfect leaf symbol made of dango sticks.

"Perfect!" Anko chirped happily as three chunin ran up, causing her to frown. "What?"

"Anko come quick! We've found dead bodies outside of the forest!" One of the chunin yelled through pants.

"So…? Killing is allowed, remember?" Anko questioned, clearly annoyed.

"Yes but you have to see this. Their faces are just melted off!" The other chunin sounded frantic so Anko decided to take it seriously and followed him. When they arrived she saw there were three Grass-nin that seemed to have their face's literally melted off.

"This can't be…These genin were in the exam earlier…" She seemed lost in thought before her eye's widened to the size of dinner plates. "_He's here_…" She seemed to spit this so called he out before she took of at a dead sprint towards the forest of death.

"Wait! Who is he?" The chunin asked, bewildered at the frenzied state of the snake mistress.

"Orochimaru." That was all she said in return, causing the chunin to shiver as he went to report to the Hokage about this crisis. Anko arrived at the front gate of the forest to see a tall man wearing a green shirt and pants with mesh items underneath. He had a long red coat with a enormous scroll on his back. He also had strange red like marks going down from his eyes and a headband that had the kanji for 'oil' on it.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Anko sputtered out, surprised that the sannin was here.

Jiraiya merely nodded. "You didn't think I'd let you take on Orochimaru on your own did you?"

"I didn't know you were back in the village…?" The snake mistress questioned.

"Well there are really a couple of reasons I'm back and finding out that Orochi-teme is here was just a plus." The toad sage shrugged as the two warriors took off into the forest, intent on finding the traitorous snake sannin.

*********

"You look just like Sasuke!" Naruto pointed a finger accusingly at the older Uchiha.

"Ah…So you've met my foolish little brother, have you?" Itachi asked in a monotone voice.

Realization seemed to draw on Sakura's face. "You're the one who killed the Uchiha clan! You're the person Sasuke-kun wants to kill!" Sakura accused.

"That is correct." This was all the homicidal Uchiha said in return.

"Can we just get on with this and kill them already?" Kisame asked, clearly annoyed that no blood had been shed as of now.

"I told you, we cannot kill the Jinchuriki." Itachi stated, causing Naruto's eyes to widen and his two teammates to look around confused. Naruto was shocked someone else outside his village knew about his status as the Kyubi's container.

Kiba growled and looked down to see Akamaru whimpering in fear. "What is it boy?" Kiba asked as the dog yipped out something. "Wait what do you mean these guys are too strong for us to take?" The Inuzuka asked with shock.

"Hmm…It seems your canine friend might be smarter then the rest of you." Kisame mocked.

Naruto, hearing enough of this, charged forward with surprising speed and attempted to jab at the rouge Uchiha, only for him to casually catch the attack and backhand Naruto in one move. The blond was sent flying into a tree.

"You are weak." Itachi closed his eyes as he seemed to concentrate and when he opened them the tree tome morphed into a tri-tipped shuriken. Itachi then pointed at Naruto.

"**Uchiha Forced Look**" With this Naruto found it impossible not to look into the older ninja's strange eyes. "Tsukiyomi." Once that word was muttered from his mouth everything went from bad to worse.

*********

Naruto woke up in a strange black and red world. He was apparently tied to a cross. "What the hell?" Naruto tried to focus and 'jump' out but found it impossible. He then tried to undo the knots himself.

"Attempting to free your self is pointless. You are in my world now. I control everything, everybody. Now for the next 72 hours you will witness your worst nightmare, over and over again. After he said this he disappeared in a swirl of black mist and was replaced with a group of people. These people were people that Naruto knew very well…

"Demon…I can't believe I let you graduate." Iruka scoffed and kicked Naruto in the gut, hard. Naruto didn't let out a single groan. He knew it was an illusion, but that didn't change how much it hurt to see Iruka do this to him.

Iruka's form morphed into that of Kakashi's. "You killed my sensei! I can't believe you were aloud to live you demon spawn!" With this the scarecrow stabbed Naruto with one of his Raikiri's. Naruto this time let out a loud scream. The pain of the lightning was excruciating but what hurt worse was the fact it was Kakashi-sensei that stabbed him. Next Kakashi's form changed into Haku's.

"I knew you were a demon as soon as you used that Red Chakra on the bridge!" Then the girl stabbed him with an ice sword. Naruto was now letting his tears fall freely. He couldn't even tell if he was in an illusion anymore. Haku took the form of the Third Hokage.

"I can't believe I even let you live this long…There is no way a demon like you could ever become Hokage!" With that he stabbed Naruto in the gut with a sword, he then twisted it and mercilessly pulled it out. Naruto was now sobbing openly.

Deep in Naruto's mind a pair of crimson red eyes snapped open. _'__**Uchiha…!**__'_

Itachi was just about to change the form into the Yondaime when all of a sudden red chakra seemed to explode out from the blond. The red chakra seemed to overwhelm everything in sight until finally Itachi looked up to find himself face to face with a being he'd only heard about in legends…

"**An accursed meat sack like you dare show your face in my home! Not even your eye jutsu can save you from me now!**" The Kyubi seemed to reek fear and malicious as Itachi tried desperately to cancel the Jutsu. "**Fool you cannot escape…You are in my world now.**" The evil creature then lunged forward as Itachi made a last ditch effort to escape…

Back in the real world Kisame was waiting as he saw the blond get trapped in Itachi's Tsukiyomi. He then knew it was over for the young demon container. He was shocked when naught a second later red chakra exploded out of the young boy as Itachi stumbled backwards.

**********

Jiraiya was not having a good day. First of all Sarutobi had opted to make him cancel his research early today. Secondly he had found out that Orochimaru was back in the village and now he was on his way to pursue and possibly eliminate him. He stopped dead in his track when he felt an all too familiar burst of evil chakra. Anko stopped as well.

"Is that the…" Anko started, only for Jiraiya to cut her off mid sentence.

"Yes, that's the Kyubi's chakra. I'm leaving it up to you to find Orochimaru. Five squads of Anbu will be with you shortly. I am going to find Naruto…" Jiraiya was about to take off when he turned back to Orochimaru's former apprentice. "And Anko. Whatever you do, do **not** engage Orochimaru. That is an order!" The toad sage commanded, earning him a nod from the scanty clad women. He then took off towards the area where the Kyubi's chakra had been accessed. _'Please be alright Naruto…'_

********

Kisame was shocked to see someone actually escape his partner's supposedly unbeatable technique. He'd never actually been in it but he had heard enough stories to know he never would want to. He growled at the three genin.

"You brats are dead!" Kisame charged at the three genin only to stop as he saw a shadow steadily getting larger and larger. He quickly jumped out of the way as a massive toad landing in between him and his three targets. On the top of the toad, stood none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin in one of his obscene stances.

"I am the protector of good, the person men want to be. I am the person women want to be with. I hail from Mount Myobuku. I am the great and gallant toad sage, Jiraiya!" The man made his interesting introduction utilizing some bizarre dance moves.

"Ha this guy shouldn't be so tough, eh Itachi?" Kisame smirked at the strange man.

"Akastuki? What exactly are you doing here so early?" The white haired man sounded slightly worried.

"That's none of your business. Although if your village security didn't suck so bad, maybe we wouldn't be here." Kisame explained.

"Kisame we must retreat. We are no match for a sannin with me in this condition." Itachi removed his hand from his eyes to show blood seeping out of his eye sockets. Kisame's eyes widened in shock as they both disappeared in simultaneous puffs of smoke.

Jiraiya, seeing the enemies were gone, turned to the three genin. He saw Kiba trying to calm a whimpering Akamaru and Sakura trying to care for an unconscious Naruto.

"Who are you?" Kiba called as he reached for a kunai.

"Don't worry. I am a friend. As I said earlier I am Jiraiya of the Sannin." This caused the two conscious genin's to gawk at the presence of such a powerful ninja.

"Who were the other two guys? Well we know their names but what did they want?" Kiba asked.

"Well those two were Uchiha Itachi and Hoshagaki Kisame. They are both S-class missing ninja, wanted for various crimes. Trust me those two are not people you want to be dealing with. They work for a group of S class criminals called Akatsuki." Jiraiya explained. This caused the two genin's eyes to widen in shock.

"S c-class?! What do they want with Naruto?" Kiba yelled.

"That is something you are going to have too ask him yourself…Now do you have both scrolls?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes." Sakura nodded in response.

"Good. Then I'll escort you three to the tower." Jiraiya finished, knowing if he was to leave there was a good chance Itachi and Kisame would show up and grab the downed Jinchuriki. Unknown to them Naruto was currently talking to one of the most powerful beings in existence.

***

_Drip. Drip. Drip._ Naruto bolted awake at the sound of dripping and he looked confusedly around as he saw he was in a sewer. "Man what the hell happened to me?" He thought as he rubbed his head. All of a sudden the day's events flooded his head. "How did I escape the tsukuyobi or whatever the name was?" Naruto wondered. He looked up to see two pipes, one red and one blue. The blue one was significantly smaller than the red one. The blond Jinchuriki was all of a sudden unable to think about what he was doing and before he knew it he was walking deeper into the sewer.

He continued to go deeper and deeper until he saw an enormous gate stretching up farther then he could see. The gate seemed to be held together by a single piece of paper with the kanji for 'seal' on it.

"What the…?" Naruto asked to seemingly no one. All of a sudden a low rumble boomed across the entire area.

"**So my miserable container finally decides to visit me.**" A massive pair of red eyes snapped open as Naruto found that he was face to face with the Kyubi no Kitsune.

"You're the Kyubi, aren't you?" Naruto accused, causing the massive beast to snort.

"**No you insignificant whelp I'm the other 100 meter foot fox trapped inside your gut you pitiful mortal! Of course I'm the Kyubi.**" The fox mocked the young boy.

All of a sudden a look of shock crossed Naruto's handsome visage. "You're the one who broke me out of the Tsukiyomi…Why?"

"**Hahaha! You think I did that to help you? I did that so I could devour the accursed Uchiha!**" The Kyubi roared out. Naruto was now scared shitless, but pressed on anyways.

"Well why wouldn't my jumping ability work?"

"**Because when you were in the Tsukiyomi he was controlling your mind. You couldn't use your genetic abilities.**" The beast explained, causing Naruto to scrunch his noise in thought.

"Genetic ability…What do you mean?" He asked with a frown.

"**That 'jumping' or whatever ridiculous name you've given it.**" The Kyubi explained, obviously he thought Naruto would have known this.

"Wait…So there were others like me?" Naruto questioned with wide eyes.

"**Of course there were you foolish mortal! The teleporting you are able to do was a genetic gene passed down every 10 generations in your family. Of course you weren't the 10****th****…**" The massive fox seemed to be angry at the mention of this.

"What do you mean? You just said that it only came around every 10 generations…And wait if I wasn't who was?" Naruto asked.

"**Your foolish father was the 10****th****. Although the trait never developed in him and he was deeply angry at this. This is why he tried to create an artificial version of the technique, using seals and kunai. He succeeded and developed a Jutsu that allowed him to throw a kunai and instantly appear wherever he had thrown it. It was called the 'Flying Thunder God Jutsu'.**" Kyubi finished.

"Wait…you knew my father?" Naruto pondered for a second until a flash of realization hit him. "Flying Thunder God…wait wasn't that the name of the Yondaime's prized jutsu?" He pulled out his hair in frustration before his anger was quickly replaced by shock. "T-the Yondaime was my dad?" Naruto gasped.

"**Of course that flesh bag was your father. Now you bore me. Leave NOW!**" With that the Kyubi let out a massive roar as Naruto was sent flying out of his subconscious.

With Anko….

"Kukuku Anko-_chan_…It's been far too long." Orochimaru chuckled at the sight of his former apprentice.

"Not long enough." Anko hissed out as she sent a batch of Shadow Snakes at the older ninja. Orochimaru merely effortlessly dodged the attack and appeared behind the special jonin.

"My, my you seem awfully hostile today Anko-chan. I do hope that you aren't still upset that I have no use of you anymore?" Orochimaru pondered causing Anko to growl and attempt to elbow him, only for the rouge sannin to block the elbow and twist Anko so she was facing him.

"Tsk. tsk Anko-chan. Don't worry I am not here for you." The pale man smirked.

"Then who are you after Orochi-teme?" Anko grunted through clenched teeth.

"Well I have marked a certain boy who intrigues me. I will warm you though, Anko-chan. Do not stop the chunin exams or Konoha will burn to the ground." With that the rouge snake sunk into the ground and Anko growled in anger.

"How is it our strength is still leaps and bounds apart?" Anko wondered out loud as five teams of Anbu appeared.

"Anko-san, where is Orochimaru." The hawk Anbu asked.

"He escaped. He did, however, warn me that if the Chunin exams are stopped that Konoha will burn to the ground." After this was said the Anbu seemed to tense.

"Ultimately this will be up to Hokage-sama." The Anbu replied slowly as the snake mistress nodded and they took off towards the tower, intent on finding the Hokage.

Back with Team 7…

Team 7 was about 5 minutes away from the tower when Naruto bolted up. Sakura was relieved to see him awake and Jiraiya set him on the ground.

"Ugh…Where am I?" Naruto groaned out as he looked around to see his team plus one man with a long white mane of hair. "Who are you?"

"Why I am Jiraiya of the Sannin and you are about five minutes away from the tower." The perverted sage explained to the downed blond.

Naruto groggily stood up and rubbed his eyes. "Why is a sannin helping us in the chunin exams? And what happened to Itachi and Kisame?" Naruto questioned, greatly confused.

"To answer your question I am helping you incase those two are to reveal themselves again. And the two Missing-Nin fled once I showed up, thankfully." Jiriaya explained as Naruto slowly nodded his head.

"We still have both scrolls?" Naruto looked to his teammates.

"Sure do." Kiba nodded as Sakura held the two scrolls up.

"Okay…Thank you Jiraiya-sama for assisting us. I believe we can make it the rest of the way." Jiraiya nodded as he disappeared in a plumb of smoke. The three genin then started running towards the tower in dead silence. Naruto seemed to be a lot quieter and out of it than usual. Sakura assumed it was whatever happened inside Itachi's jutsu so she didn't bother to ask. They arrived at the tower and Sakura read the poem to herself.

"I think we open both scrolls." Sakura confirmed as she and Kiba dropped the two scrolls on the ground. All of a sudden smoke started to rise from the scrolls as Iruka appeared.

"Welcome to the tower. I'm proud to say you have now passed the 2nd round of the chunin exams!" Iruka smiled at this. He was inwardly worried about his favorite ex-student who seemed out of it. "You have passed with a time of 9 hours and 39 minutes. You are currently the third team here. You can go rest in your rooms if you want to, they should be marked with your names." Iruka finished as team 7 walked towards their room, intent on taking that advice.

Jonin's lounge…

Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai were all sitting around in a corner of the Jonin lounge. The Jonin lounge was specifically reserved today for the Jonin that had teams participating in the 1st or 2nd phases of the Chunin exam. It was located in the center tower.

"I heard who was giving the first exam." Asuma spoke up, breaking the silence.

"And who is that?" Kurenai asked the chain smoker.

"Morino Ibiki." Asuma stated bluntly as Kakashi and Gai both went wide eyed.

"For real? Man that just got allot more complicated." Kakashi muttered.

Kurenai, not having heard of Ibiki, was rightfully confused. "What is the big deal about this man?"

"Morino Ibiki is the head of the Torture and Interrogation Section of Anbu. It is said he can crack even the toughest opponent using just words alone. He is a certified sadist." Asuma explained, causing Kurenai's eye's to narrow.

"Do you think your team made it?" She asked.

"I think so…Shikamaru is too smart to fall for any of that and Ino would never back down. Choji wouldn't want to let his teammates down." Asuma reasoned. "And yours?"

"I'm not sure…I know Sasuke would never give into it and Shino is very unlikely. I'm not sure about Hinata. She has major confidence issues and is very shy…I'm sure they passed though." Kurenai sounded more confident at the end. "How about you Kakashi?"

"I'm almost certain my team passed. Naruto is much too strong willed to give into anything Ibiki has to offer and Kiba is basically the same. Sakura would never jeopardize her teammates so I believe they did indeed pass." Kakashi then flashed one of his patented 'Eye-smiles'.

Gai then looked over. "Yosh! Your teams must all be very good if you have such confidence in their abilities. I am sure my team has overcome this obstacle using youthfulness alone!" Gai pumped his fist in the air as everyone else sweat dropped.

"Did you say something Gai?" Kakashi muttered as he looked up from his book.

Gai then face faulted as he yelled, "Curse you Kakashi and your hipness!" Just then a puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the room and there stood Jiraiya of the Sannin.

"Jiraiya-sama! What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked as his fellow colleagues were too shocked at the arrival of the famous man to talk.

"Kakashi, I'd like to talk to you in private…" Jiraiya motioned for the scarecrow to follow him as they both exited the room, leaving many bewildered Jonin-sensei.

"What did you want to talk about?" Kakashi asked as he put his book away.

"How did you like volume 13?" The perverted writer asked.

"Well I did love the fact that Hirshomano and Tayu finally hooked up but don't you think the seventeen-some was a tad bit overboard?" Kakashi asked, completely oblivious to how awkward it would be if anyone happened to listen in at that point.

"No I did not." Jiraiya answered seriously. "Now on to real business, I've come to inform you that I will be taking over the training of one of your pupils, one Uzumaki Naruto. He will still complete missions and the like with you but he will be my apprentice." Jiraiya informed the tardy sensei.

"What?! You can't do that! He is my student and I have much I could teach him." Kakashi tried to reason with the man who he knew was much stronger and had much more influence in the system than he did.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, I realize you could still teach the boy a lot but Hokage-sama and I made this decision for the best. You don't even know what that boy is going to be up against." The older man tried to reassure the still peeved jonin.

"Would you care to enlighten me on who these supposed enemies that are apparently out of my abilities?" Kakashi questioned, still angry at the possibility he wouldn't be able to train Minato-sensei's son.

"Today in the Forest of Death Naruto was confronted by two S-rank missing nin, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshagaki Kisame. These are but two of a group of criminals called Akatsuki. As far as I can tell they are after the biju and the Jinchuriki of said biju. I realize you think you owe it to Minato to train this boy but as I said earlier you will still be able to train him, just not as frequently as I know you'd like to." Jiraiya explained. Kakashi's lone visible eye widened at the mention of two S-ranked nuke-nin. He was strong but he knew that he wasn't on the level of Itachi and Kisame. Kakashi sighed in defeat. He knew it was for the best.

"Hai, I understand Jiraiya-sama." Kakashi bowed and then disappeared in a signature leaf body flicker.

Forest of death tower: Day of preliminary round…

The five days had gone quickly for Naruto who had spent all of it locked inside of his room thinking. This had worried his teammates greatly but they had opted not to disturb the blond genin. Naruto was still trying to comprehend that he was the son of the Fourth Hokage. It was unreal. He decided he would have to put that thought in the back of his brain as the Hokage cleared his throat, waiting to address the crowd.

"Greetings to you all and congratulations on making it passed the second round." There were only a handful of teams left. There was Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Team Gai, The Suna team, Kabuto's team, and the team from sound. "The chunin exams are for many purposes, only one of them being promoting genin to chunin…" The Hokage then went on about how the Chunin Exams were a way to show power without war and to get money. He was about to explain more when a sick looking Jonin appeared behind him and he nodded and walked up to the stands.

"Hello (Cough) my name is Gekko Hayate (Cough). Unfortunately there are too many teams to proceed directly to the (Cough) 3rd round so we are going to be holding a preliminary round to cut down the people. If there is anyone who thinks they are unfit to fight please withdraw now."

Kabuto raised his hand. "Proctor, I forfeit." Hayate nodded as Kabuto proceeded to walk out of the room with a smirk on his face.

"Now I will (Cough) randomly put your names into a (Cough) computer that will generate random fights. (Cough)." Just then a large computer started flashing green names as the names landed in a couple seconds. The board read: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Yoroi Akado. Sasuke smirked as he made his way down to the arena. He seemed to be unconsciously rubbing his neck.

"Now are both contestants ready?" Both contestants nodded, "Then begin!" Right as those words were said Sasuke immediately threw three shuriken at his foe that merely blocked them with a kunai. Sasuke charged in close, trying to gain the advantage with Taijutsu. He threw a quick jab at the older man's face, which was caught. Luckily Sasuke expected this as he moved to backhand his opponent only for his cursed mark to flare up.

_ 'Damn, why now?'_ Sasuke managed a weak punch instead which was caught and his opponent pulled him in close. He then grabbed Sasuke by the neck.

"It's over. My ability allows me to drain your Chakra reserves and add them to mine. You are finished." Sasuke growled, already feeling the effects. Sasuke was inwardly fighting a battle with the cursed mark. He couldn't give in yet or he would be disqualified.

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke used every ounce of his strength to toss the older man over his back and he went threw a set of seals as he called out a jutsu.

"**Fire release: Grand Fireball Jutsu**." He then exhaled a much smaller version of what he was hoping for. _'Great…The seal is messing with my control.'_ Akado was barely affected by the weak fireball and just had a singed pair of pants. He tried to run in close but was caught of guard when Sasuke appeared under him and delivered a powerful kick to his jaw. He then appeared behind him and fought down the curse mark long enough to deliver a number of powerful mid air combo moves, ending with a downward axe kick. When this connected it was clear Akado was out for the count.

"Winner: Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke smirked at this as he was then escorted away by Kakashi and Jiraiya, who intended on sealing his curse mark. Akado was taken away on a stretcher.

The board flashed randomly again until it landed on two people. "Will Sabuku no Temari and Abumi Zaku please report to the stadium?" Temari floated down on her fan while Zaku choose to merely walk down. "If you are both ready, begin!"

"Just give up and I won't have to hurt that pretty little face of yours." Zaku stated in a flirtatious manner.

"Like I'm going to give up to some wannabe like you." Temari stated bluntly.

Zaku was angered by this and pointed both his arms at the girl. "Air cutter!" With that a large gust of wind and sound was send hurtling at the sand maiden. Temari merely dodged, clearly unimpressed. The sound-nin then charged in and attempted a roundhouse kick towards the wind user but was blocked by her fan. He used the fan as a springboard and flipped of and landed facing her again.

"Take this!" He then fired an even bigger blast at Temari, only for her too open her fan and swing it.

"**Wind Scythe Jutsu**" Temari's jutsu easily tromped the black haired ninja's and sent it back full force. He was hit dead center and sent flying into the wall.

"The winner is Sabuku no Temari." Hayate coughed out.

In the Sealing room…

Sasuke was currently sitting shirtless inside of a large pattern of seals. Jiraiya and Kakashi were both on their knee's making more seals.

"This may hurt for a moment." The toad sannin announced and Sasuke nodded. He then formed a tiger seal as the seals on the ground and Sasuke's chest all turned bright red and shrunk into the curse seal, making a container around it.

"AHHHH!" Sasuke screamed bloody murder and was knocked out cold form the excruciating pain.

"Kukuku Kakashi, Jiraiya. Locking up the gift I gave Sasuke-kun?" A shadowy figure appeared from the doorway as Orochimaru stepped out into the room.

"Orochimaru?" Kakashi yelled as he powered up a Raikiri and Jiraiya powered up a Rasengan. Orochimaru knew the power of those two jutsu and decided not to be on the receiving end.

"Well I see I am not wanted here. I will tell you know that Sasuke _will_ come to me. He will come to me on his own free will." This was all the rouge sannin said as he disappeared into the darkness.

Chunin Exam room…

Temari walked back up to her teammates as she walked past the other genin. She flashed Naruto a small smirk and continued on her way. The board then started to flash through names again before it stopped at two.

The board read: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba.

****************

**A/n done! Woot that was a fun chapter to write! Costa Rica is crazy and it is almost always in the 30's! (Celsius. In the 90's Fahrenheit.) It is a welcome change as I am originally from Minnesota so the temperature is a lot different! Please all of you review because the more you review the faster I will post more chapters! I was disappointed greatly by the amount of reviews for last chapter but was immensely happy at the amount of hits so I guess it's a win-lose. I also have a question: Should I post a sequel involving the Shippuden or just include that in the first story? That's not to say I am anywhere near there or anything I am just thinking ahead.**

** Cya, Narutofan401**


	7. Friend or Foe?

More Than a Ninja

Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?

I would like to make an announcement: My story has now reached 10,000 hits! I would like to thank the readers, the fans, the reviewers and everyone else that I can't think of right now! I've got sudden urges to write this fic, so I will finish up a chapter or two and start writing more of 'The Yellow Flash of Kiri'. The update speeds will be most likely the same for now but I might rotate between stories, depending on the response for the first chapter.

"Will Uzumaki Naruto (Cough) and Inuzuka Kiba (Cough) please report to the arena?" Hayate coughed out. Naruto and Kiba's eyes met as they walked down the stairs. They knew each other's fighting styles; they knew each other's jutsu. This match would come down to strategies, intellect and luck.

"If both contestants are ready, begin!" Hayate yelled as he disappeared out of the arena.

"Let's give a good show, eh?" Kiba inquired towards his blonde teammate.

"Sure, no holding back! May the best man win?" Naruto responded.

"Yeah. Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba than tossed the puppy a soldier pill. "**Man-Beast clone! All fours Jutsu!**" The boy and his dog then both got on all four of their limps and charged at Naruto. Kiba tried to slash the blonde's face, but the blond caught his wrist. Naruto then flipped the animalistic boy over his shoulder, slamming him into his canine partner. The enraged Inuzuka then growled and almost charged in headfirst again. He stopped mid-charge and decided to think first for a change.

Naruto had never been happier. He was always happy when he got a good fight, and out of everyone in this room, Kiba was the only one who would give him a good, _nonlethal _fight. He got into a defensive stance and waited for the dog-boy to charge. He was surprised when he didn't. Naruto decided to use this moment of silence to his advantage.

"**Wind release: Great breakthrough!**" Naruto raised his hands horizontal form the ground and blasted an enormous torrent of wind straight at his opponent/teammate. Temari's eye's widened in shock at the sight of this. _'When I learned that jutsu it was no where near as powerful as that! Just how much chakra does this guy have?'_

The wind jutsu kicked up a lot of dust, but it looked to be a direct hit. Looks can be deceiving…When the dust was gone it revealed a giant wall made of earth. The wall soon collapsed to reveal a smirking Kiba.

"You didn't think I'd go down that easily?" Kiba mocked.

"Not for a second." Naruto replied as he set his fingers in a familiar seal. "**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Soon enough a giant puff of smoke covered the entire arena. When it cleared there stood no less than 50 Naruto clones.

"Impossible!" The sand Jonin, Baki, muttered just loud enough for Temari to hear.

"What? They are just clones…" Temari muttered, not impressed.

"Those aren't just normal run of the mill clones…Those are_ solid_ copies of the user, capable of giving, or taking damage. They can even perform jutsu. The shadow clone jutsu is a high B ranked _KinJutsu_ exclusive to Konoha." Baki explained. The wind mistress's eyes shot out of the sockets. _'Just who are you Uzumaki Naruto?'_

The Naruto's all charged in towards the two Kiba's. As soon as they were within 10 feet the Kiba's jumped high and became spiraling tornadoes of death.

"**Fang over Fang!**" Kiba yelled as the twin tornadoes charged into the group of clones, dispelling half of them. Kiba then nodded at Akamaru and threw a smoke bomb on the ground. "Not so tough when you can't see, eh Naruto?" Kiba mocked as he picked off the Naruto's one by one. "Found you!" Kiba shouted as he grabbed what appeared to be the real Naruto. He held a Kunai at the blonde's throat. This was the sight that everyone saw as the smoke cleared. "Any last words?" Kiba asked.

Naruto smirked. "Just one: Boom!" With that word the Naruto started to glow white and exploded, knocking Kiba off his feet. Just then seven Naruto's popped out of the ground. The first one launched Kiba into the air with its foot. "**Uz…" **The second one then jumped up and hit Kiba higher in the air. **"Zu…" **The third Naruto was launched into the air by the others and hit Kiba towards the other Naruto. "**Ma…**" The fourth one further continued to hit Kiba until throwing him to a fifth. "**Ki**" The fifth Naruto launched Kiba up where the real Naruto was also launched too. The real Naruto then brought his foot down in a menacing axe kick to Kiba's gut. "**Naruto Rendan!**" Naruto yelled as Kiba was launched to the ground. As soon as he hit the ground the young boy puffed into a downed Akamaru.

Kiba then charged at Naruto and delivered a hard uppercut to Naruto's chin. Naruto was sent flying into the wall. He rubbed his chin when he got out of the newly made crater.

"When did you substitute?" Naruto asked, clearly curious.

"When you first launched me into the air." Kiba confirmed Naruto's suspicion that it had been the real Kiba, but he had substituted with Akamaru. "Now to avenge Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as he charged Naruto. Naruto then took a page from Kiba's book and threw a smoke bomb onto the ground. "What are you playing here? You don't have a nose nearly as strong as mine and you can't see…" Kiba wondered out loud.

"Maybe you're just not getting it! With the smoke up, no one can see anything." Naruto whispered, his voice appearing to come from all angles. Naruto mentally thanked Zabuza for showing him how to make his voice project like that. All of a sudden Naruto disappeared from his spot and appeared behind Kiba, pointing a Kunai at his neck. Kiba snarled, knowing there was no way out.

"Proctor, I give up!" Kiba called as the smoke cleared, revealing Naruto pointing a Kunai at the Inuzuka's neck.

"Right, the winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate called. Naruto and Kiba then shook hands and walked up the stairs together.

"That was a rather impressive performance. Who knew Kakashi could actually teach?" Kurenai wondered with fake shock written on her face.

Kakashi groaned at this. "Is someone jealous that my student's are clearly superior to her own?" He shot back. Kurenai frowned and realized that out of all her students, the only one she was confident any of them could defeat was Sakura, and that was just judging on her reputation from the academy. She figured Sasuke could fight on equal grounds with the two male-members of team 7. She assumed he would be overconfident, causing him to lose.

The board then started to flash again. It landed on the names: Shino Aburame vs. Tsurugi Misumi.

"Will both contestants please report down to the battle field so we can (Cough, Cough) Start the match?" The sickly Jonin asked. When both the bug-user and the purple-dressed man were standing on the fighting floor Hayate raised his hand. "Begin (Cough)." Just as those words left his mouth Misumi charged forward and started off with a jab at Shino's chest, which was blocked. He then followed up with an uppercut; the uppercut connected and sent Shino flying away. As soon as the black haired boy hit the ground he dissolved into bugs.

"What the…" Misumi muttered as he looked around for his opponent. He saw him standing a short distance away. The best part was that he was facing the wrong way. Misumi smirked as he crept up on Shino and seemed to wrap around him with his long limbs.

"Give up. I can easily disconnect all my joints using my chakra, allowing me to stretch them like so. Now give up before I suffocate you." The secret spy for Orochimaru smirked.

"The first rule of a Shinobi is: Always look under the underneath." Shino replied, taking the line from his father. Soon the Shino dissolved into hundreds of bugs that started to suck his opponent dry of chakra. "You lose." Shino stated in a 'as a matter of fact' voice as he fixed his glasses.

"The winner is Aburame Shino!" Hayate announced.

Up in the stands Kakashi was inwardly impressed with the bug user. He seemed to be one of Konoha's top competitors in the finals so far, along with Naruto and Sasuke.

The flashing board then stopped abruptly. "Will Kintu Dosu and Sabuku no Gaara please report to the fighting arena?" Hayate surprisingly didn't cough once, as if waiting to see the dangerous sand-nin was more important. As soon as the two fighters were in place Hayate called the match to begin.

"Give up; you are no match for the hidden sound!" The mummified man smirked as he looked at the apathetic red-head.

"If I recall correctly, so far the sand has one competitor in the finals while the sound has zero." Gaara stated in a monotone voice. This angered Dosu, who proceeded to flick the large gauntlet type weapon on his arm. This sent a concentrated wave of sound at the Sand-nin. Gaara soon was on the ground screaming as blood seeping out of his ears. Dosu smirked.

of the gourd on Gaara's back. The sand rushed at Dosu with blinding speeds and soon was wrapped around him.

"Sand coffin!" Gaara named the technique in an insane voice. "Sand burial!" Gaara squeezed his hand shut as the sand literally crushed the sound-nin. The other sand-nin present hoped that amount of killing would satisfy the Jinchuriki for the time being.

"Winner, (Cough) Sabuku no Gaara!" Hayate stated, clearly freaked out at the brutal, yet efficient, way Gaara ended the match.

Naruto grimaced at the match, inwardly thanking the heavens that his demon was stable…well maybe not stable…maybe just not as fucking insane as Gaara's. He still remembered his latest visit with the Kyubi clearly.

_Flashback…_

_Naruto was standing in front of the Kybui, demanding answers. "How do you know the Yondaime is my father? Or where my 'jumping' came from?" _

_The Kyubi snorted at this. __**"You don't think a being as old as me wouldn't pick up on stuff like that?"**_

_"Wait…Are there any more people like me?" Naruto questioned._

_"__**There may be…**__" The demon fox muttered._

_"Where?" Naruto begged, hoping that somehow there would be more of his family, or people like him._

_"__**You will have to answer that on your own, foolish ningen. BEGONE!"**__ The Kyubi then roared and sent Naruto out of his mindscape._

_Flashback end…_

Naruto then looked down to see the next match was about to begin. He saw the match was Nara Shikamaru vs. that one sound chick.

"If both contestants are ready, (Cough) Begin!" Hayate exclaimed as he jumped into the stands.

"Man what a drag! I have to fight a troublesome woman!" Shikamaru muttered as he sighed.

"What was that?!" Kin narrowed her eyes as she glared at the lazy shadow-user.

"And she's deaf too? Man this is really going to be troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered as he put his hands in his pockets. This caused Kin to face-fault.

"I'm not deaf you idiot!" She yelled as she threw some senbon at the lazy leaf-nin. Shikamaru didn't even have to dodge to avoid the needles.

_'She purposely missed…And there is a bell attached to the end of some of her senbon…Hmmm…I wonder…'_

Up in the stands the Jonin were once again conversing.

"I think your student will lose Asuma. He seems too lazy for his own good." Kakashi pointed out as he read his book. Asuma sweat dropped at this.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black…And Shikamaru may not look like it, but he is actually a genius." Asuma pointed out.

Kurenai interrupted. "How so?"

"I had a I.Q. test disguised as a puzzle for him…And that boy has an I.Q. of over 200." Asuma stated, causing the two other jonin to almost trip.

"2-200!" Kurenai sputtered out. Asuma merely nodded and motioned for them to watch the match.

Shikamaru barely caught the flash of light coming from an almost invisible ninja wire. He looked down the wire to see it attached to the bells. All of a sudden he heard a loud ring and his vision got blurry. He stumbled back as he saw five Kin's.

"What happened?" Shikamaru questioned. All five Kin's answered.

"You got caught under my genjutsu. You thought just because I am a girl it'd be an easy win? Ha!" Kin all of a sudden tried to charge Shikamaru only to find her body not willing to budge an inch. "What the…?"

"Shadow possession jutsu…success…" Shikamaru muttered lazily. Kin's eyes bulged out of her head.

"How did you know which was the real me? And how did you get me without me seeing?" She questioned.

Shikamaru explained, "I used one of your senbon's wire and I sent a shadow down it. You were so caught up in me being in your genjutsu you forgot to be aware of your surroundings. Now it's over." Shikamaru yawned.

"Big deal, whatever you do to me will happen to you as well…" Kin was cut off as Shikamaru threw a shuriken at her, making her do the same as him. He ducked back and she smirked, knowing she'd do the same. Her smirk was wiped off her face when she bashed her head against the side of the wall, making Shikamaru the winner.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru." Hayate announced as the screen started again. Everyone was holding their breath, not wanting to be paired up against him/her. The screen then stopped.

"Will Akimichi Choji and Rock Lee please come (Cough) to start their match." Hayate announced. Choji gulped.

"Common Choji you can do it!" Ino cheered for her long time 'friend'.

"I know it's troublesome but at least you don't have to fight a girl…" Shikamaru used his form of encouragement, I think…This however caused Ino to bash him upside the head at the mention of 'Troublesome women'.

"If you win I'll treat you to an All-you-can-eat barbeque." Asuma offered as a fire began to burn in Choji's eyes. He then ran down the stairs and was ready to go.

"Yosh! It is my fight at last!" Lee cheered as he jumped off the balcony.

"(Cough) If both contestants are ready…Let the match (Cough) begin." Hayate brought his hand down, signaling for the two genin to start.

"Let us have a very youthful match!" Lee yelled towards Choji. Choji ignored this and immediately created a set of seals.

"**Expansion Jutsu! Meat Tank Boulder!**" Choji yelled as he bloated up into a large ball. He then started rolling at high speeds towards Lee, who merely dodged out of the way. Choji, however, followed the green-clad boy. Lee then dodged again but this time he countered with his 'Leaf Whirlwind'. He landed a kick straight onto Choji that sent the big-boned Akimichi flying into the wall. Hayate sweatdropped at the amount of time that match took.

"(Cough) Well it looks like we have a (Cough) winner. Rock Lee of Konoha!" Hayate announced, causing Lee to yell in triumph.

"I did it Gai-sensei! I'm going to the final round!" Lee cheered.

"Good work my youthful student! If you do not become a chunin I will scale the Hokage's monument with a two ton boulder strapped to my back!" Gai yelled back.

"And if you should fall off and break all the bones in your body I will personally pick you and that boulder up and run you to the hospital, using only my hands!" Lee continued on with their 'small' workout talk.

"And if you…" Gai started only for Hayate to cough, this time intentionally.

"We are kind of in the middle of an exam…(Cough)." Hayate explained while Gai nodded and gave his nice-guy pose. He then yelled something that Naruto tuned out. Selective hearing was a godsend in a place like this.

"Ahem..(Cough) The next match will be between Sabuku no Kankuro and Hyuga Neji." Hayate coughed out. When both contestants were ready he called the match to begin.

"Give up, you were fated to lose as soon as you were made to be my opponent." Neji stated.

"Ha? You Konoha-nin might believe in crap like that, but back in Suna we actually have some common sense." Kankuro mocked.

"If you had any common sense at all you would have known that switching places with your little puppet is useless." Neji argued as he charged forward and hit the 'package' on 'Kankuro's' back with a gentle fist strike. Kankuro then emerged, coughing up a fit.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Kankuro demanded.

"The gentle fist is not Konoha's strongest Taijutsu style for a reason. Instead of focusing on delivering wounds to the outside the Hyuga focus on delivering internal blows to the chakra pathways directly, or even the organs. Now you are within my range of division." Neji stated, surprising Hinata, who didn't even know the '64 palms' herself.

"Two palms." Neji yelled as he delivered two hits to Kankuro's abdomen. "Four palms…eight palms…sixteen palms...thirty two palms…Sixty four palms." Neji finished with a smirk. "I told you that you were fated to lose. You cannot change your fate. Once a failure, always a failure." Neji sneered, causing Naruto to growl.

""Bullshit!" Naruto yelled, knuckles white from gripping the railing so tight.

"What was that?" Neji narrowed his Byakugan at the offending blond.

"I said: Bull-Shit! You can always change who you are with enough hard work and dedication!" Naruto yelled.

"Yosh! Such a youthful attitude! Lee this boy could be your eternal rival, just like my rival Kakashi!" Gai shouted, causing Kakashi to back away innocently.

"You are a fool. One is born with a simple fate at birth. You cannot change it no matter how hard you try. This is why you are a failure." Neji pointed out.

"If we meet in the finals, I'll prove too you that your fate-crap is a horse." Naruto growled. Temari looked over, seeing a look of dedication she hadn't ever seen on anybody. She wished she had something she could believe in like that.

The board then stopped, interrupting their argument. "Will Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino please report to the arena?" Signal the ever present 'cough'.

Sakura's eyes glowed with a determination not unlike her blond haired teammate. She was ready for this with all the training she had done.

"You should just give up right now forehead! There is no way you can beat me!" Ino boasted, completely confident she could still beat her rival.

"Ha! We'll see about that Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted back.

"Begin!" Hayate said.

Sakura immediately made a set of hand seals and whispered to herself. Soon four clones appeared beside her. They four Sakura's charged in towards the blonde, who didn't know which was which. Ino opted to just throw a shuriken at all of them, when only one dodged she smirked, knowing which one was the real pinkette. Sakura stopped in her tracks and undid her headband. Ino looked in surprised.

"I told you that when I became a real Konuchi I would wear this on my forehead." Sakura explained as she tied the headband around her forehead. Ino followed suit after she nodded.

Sakura charged forward and tried to land a jab to Ino's neck, Ino went to block it only to find out it was a feint as Sakura launched a roundhouse kick at the blonde. Ino was hit square in the face and sent rolling away.

"You're not a real Kunochi…You care more about your hair then your training!" Sakura accused as she chopped off a long chunk of her hair with a kunai. This shocked the rookies, who had always known Sakura to care deeply for her precious locks.

"You think you're the only one who can cut their own hair?" Ino yelled as she cut her ponytail off with her kunai, further shocking everyone, especially team 10. Sakura smirked, knowing her plan had worked. Ino gasped as she felt a Kunai against her neck.

"When…How?" Ino sputtered out, seeing two Sakura's.

"The Shadow Clone Jutsu…It's really a wonderful technique…Too bad I can only create one or two before I run out of usable chakra." Sakura explained, already feeling the exhaustion that came with the shadow clone. How her teammate did it she would never know…

"Winner: Haruno Sakura!" Hayate exclaimed as Sakura jumped up in joy. Ino, instead of being mad, had a smile on her face.

"You really bloomed into a beautiful flower Sakura…" Ino smiled at her old best friend, wishing they could go back to how it used to be. Sakura smiled back, wondering how she had let a boy get between her and her best friend.

"Yeah…" Sakura mumbled, clearly embarrassed at the praise.

The board already had the next contestants up. "Will Hyuga Hinata and Tenten please come down to (Cough, Cough) battle." Hayate called out. Hinata was nervous. She was up against Neji's teammate.

"Your Neji's cousin right?" Tenten asked, hoping it would be an affirmative so she would know what to expect from her opponent.

"Y-yes." Hinata mumbled as she pushed her index fingers together. Tenten nodded as Hayate started the match. Tenten immediately threw a kunai and jumped backwards, knowing that fighting a Hyuga in close range battle was suicidal. Hinata activated her Byakugan and tried to charge forward, only to have to dodge a group of well-aimed kunai and shuriken. Hinata get in close and tried to land a palm strike on the bun-haired girl. She missed and was swatted away with a rather weak backhand curtsey of the weapons mistress. Tenten knew her worst area was taijutsu so she opted to try and get as much distance as possible.

"I was hoping to save this for the finals…I guess I have to use it now." Tenten then pulled out two scrolls as she rose into the air, twirling the scrolls down from her.

"**Twin Rising Dragons!**" The brown haired girl yelled out as hundreds of weapons of all kind popped out frown the scrolls. She then began to hurl the weapons at the shy girl with amazing speed and precision. Hinata knew she was done for if she didn't think quick.

She started to spin and formed an incomplete rotation. The incomplete shield only knocked the weapons away, not sending them back like it was supposed to. To her surprise Tenten rose her fingers as the weapons rose again and hovered around her.

"Give up or I'll just keep coming with the weapons until you run out of chakra." Tenten threatened. Hinata hesitantly nodded her head and gave up. She looked downwards and pushed her index fingers together.

"Winner: Tenten!" Hayate announced as the two ladies went back to the stands. Hinata wasn't watching where she was going and accidently bumped into Kiba.

"Ano…I-I'm very s-sorry Kiba-kun…" Hinata muttered out.

"It's okay Hinata, neither of us were watching out for anyone. You did great out there! I didn't think you were so strong!" Kiba praised the shy Hyuga, who turned redder after each sentence.

"T-thank y-you, Kiba-kun. D-do you think I g-got any better?" Hinata asked as she was expecting a big flat 'no'.

"Sure you did! You did great! I didn't pass either so I know how disappointing it is." Kiba explained, remembering his fight with Naruto.

Hayate coughed, if it was intentional or not is still up for debate, getting the attention of the audience. "Congratulations to all of (Cough) you who have passed the preliminary round, you will now move onto the finals. To (Cough) those of you that lost your fight, be grateful you made it this far and try again in six (Cough) months time. Please come down and (Cough) draw cards to see who you will be fighting in the final round." Hayate explained, the genin then made their way down and all picked a number, Kurenai pulled out a number for Sasuke.

"One." Neji stated in his monotone voice.

"Ten." Tenten said.

"Five." Sakura piped up.

"Seven." Kurenai answered for her student.

"Two!" Lee shouted.

"Nine." Temari smirked.

"Six." Shikamaru muttered lazily.

"Eight." Naruto answered.

"Four." Gaara stated, obviously bored.

"Three." Shino muttered quietly.

Hayate nodded. "The (Cough) Matches will be the following: Hyuga Neji vs. Rock Lee, Aburame Shino (Cough) vs. Sabuku no Gaara, (Cough) Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke vs. Uzumaki Naruto, (Cough) and Sabuku Temari vs. Tenten. You all have two months to train. Please train as much as you can. Their will be a lot of political figures and you want (Cough) to do well for your village. I will see you in two (Cough) months time." Hayate then dismissed the remaining genin. Naruto passed by Temari and gave her a quick wink and he was off to find his sensei. Soon enough he found Kakashi walking down the hallway of the hospital.

"Kakashi-sensei, will you train me for the finals?" Naruto asked as he waited anxiously for a reply.

"Sorry Naruto, I will be training Sakura, because, no offense, she is probably the weakest of our team and Kiba is training with his family." Sakura looked mad at being called weak but just nodded her head; after all, that was why she was training. Naruto frowned and muttered a downcast 'Ok'.

"But I got you an even better person to train you!" Kakashi finished, causing Naruto to raise his eyebrow. It wasn't everybody that the copy nin could claim to be better than him.

"Who?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "If you hand me off to Ebisu, I swear to god…" Naruto threatened.

"Me." Jiraiya answered as he entered the hallway from a room. "The Uchiha's seal is all secured." He said to Kakashi.

"Wait…I'm going to be trained by a sannin?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed, you are. Follow me and we will begin your training." Jiraiya stated as they began walking away, leaving a dumbfounded Sakura and a smirking Kakashi. When the two ninja arrived at the hot springs Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Why are we at the hot springs? I already know the water walking exercise…" Naruto trailed off.

"We are here so I can do research while you train, of course!" Jiraiya answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What kind of research?" Naruto questioned suspiciously.

"Well I'm glad you asked!" Jiraiya grinned as he pulled out a very familiar little orange book. "I am the proud writer of the Icha Icha series! I need to research to get inspiration to write my new book!" The old pervert grinned perversely.

Naruto face faulted. "You mean I have a sensei who reads the stuff and a sensei who _writes_ it?!" Naruto screamed.

"Do you want to be trained by a sannin or not?" Jiraiya asked, clearly getting annoyed.

"Y-yes! What will you be teaching me ero-sama?" Naruto asked with fake respect. Jiraiya twitched.

"First I'm going to let you sign the toad contract!" The toad sage grinned.

"Why would I want to summon toads?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Oh these aren't just any toads…" Jiraiya explained as he bit his thumb and went through a set of seals. All of a sudden he slammed his hand on the ground and a toad that stood at least 8 feet high on all fours appeared. He had on battle armor and twin wakashis on his back.

"Woah…" Naruto stared, dumbfounded. "Teach me!" Naruto yelled as he jumped up and down. Jiraiya grinned and handed him the scroll. Naruto immediately ripped it open and pricked his finger with a kunai. He then signed the ancient contract with his blood. He noticed the last two names on the contract.

_'Well of course there's Jiraiya and…Namikaze Minato…Wait…The Yondaime signed the toad contract?!'_ Naruto thought. "The Yondaime summoned Toads?" Naruto asked Jiraiya.

"Of course, I did train the Yondaime after all…" Jiraiya nodded. Naruto wondered if Jiraiya knew he was the fourth's son…He would have a _long_ talk with the current Hokage after this training session.

"Wait…You said that's the first thing you'd teach me…What else will I learn?" Naruto asked.

"Well how about a demonstration…" Jiraiya smirked as he walked up to a tree. He then held out his hand for a moment until a spinning ball of chakra appeared in his palm. "**Rasengan!**" Jiraiya yelled as he thrust the ball into the tree. The rasengan grinded the tree until there was a large hole in the tree. "That, Naruto, is the Rasengan. It was invented by the Yondaime and took him three years to master. I don't expect you to learn it in the time you have left over after you learn to summon. It took _me_ four months to master." Jiraiya explained. Naruto, however, wasn't paying attention to the old sage as he was currently dreaming about what kind of damage he could do with a jutsu like that.

"Now…Show up here at 10 a.m. tomorrow and we will begin your training." The toad sage instructed.

"Wait we aren't starting today?" Naruto asked, wanting to start as early as possible.

"Of course not! Today there are blonde twins in the hotsprings!" Jiraiya muttered dreamily, causing Naruto to sweat drop and mutter a 'Riiigggghhht'.

Naruto then waved to Jiraiya and took of at a walking pace, intent on confronting the Sandaime about his 'Discovery'.

_Hokage's Office_

Naruto stormed into the Hokage's office, causing the secretary to go wide-eyed but merely shrug it of as if it was daily occurrence, which it probably was.

"Good morning Naruto-kun, what can I do for you today?" The old Hokage asked as he took a puff of his smoke. Seeing the pissed of expression on the jinchuriki's face he activated his privacy seals. "What seems to be the problem?"

"You knew, didn't you?" Naruto accused with a solemn voice.

"You have to clarify more than that…" Sarutobi replied.

"You knew that the Yondaime was my father, didn't you?" Naruto looked down, unable to see the look of surprise on the old Hokage's face.

"How did you…?" Sarutobi gasped out.

"The Kyubi told me…" Naruto answered, still looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry Naruto…I couldn't…" Sarutobi started, only to get cut off.

"So you did know?!" Naruto glared daggers at his leader.

"Yes…But you have to understand…If it got out that you were the son of the fourth Hokage, your life would be in far more danger then you could ever understand!" Sarutobi tried to reason with the clearly pissed off blond.

"What do you think I'd run down the street yelling, 'The Yondaime's my father'? I understand why you would keep it from me when I was younger…But I know how to keep a secret!" Naruto yelled, talking about the Kyubi. "Do you know how many times I'd thought that my parents were killed by the villagers, or worse _abandoned _me, or hated me for what I contained? The least you could have done was to tell me who my father was!" Naruto growled out.

"Naruto-kun…I'm sorry I didn't…" The Sandaime tried to talk again, only to get cut off again.

"Did Jiraiya know too?" Naruto suddenly asked. This further shocked the third hokage, not suspecting Naruto to know Jiraiya's relationship with the Fourth yet.

"No. I didn't tell him…" Sarutobi admitted. "He recently found out and that is why he came back…"

"Why didn't you tell him? He could have watched over me!" Naruto shook his head in frustration.

"If he knew you were alive, he would have stayed in Konoha. His spy network is immensely important to Konoha…" Sarutobi tried to explain. "I'm sorry about all the mistakes I've made, Naruto-kun."

"I understand. I just would like you to know I've lost all respect for you. I will be leaving now_ Hokage-sama_." Naruto spat out, with venom in his voice, as he 'jumped' to an unknown destination.

Sarutobi sighed as he rubbed his temples. He wondered for the hundredth time if he had made the right decision.

"Minato…You would be ashamed of me…" The old Hokage seemed to really feel his age for the first time in a long time. His eyes lingered at the picture of the fourth as he began to work on his paperwork. Sarutobi had no idea what the future was going to look like, but he could already tell he wasn't going to like it.

**A/n: It feels good to be back from my vacation! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm really excited for the upcoming chapters. Please read and review.**

**If you press the little green button, there is a small possibility you will win the lottery in the next 20 years…Very small, but still possible. The next chapter of The Yellow Flash of Kiri, will follow in 1 or 2 days.**

**(Note: You have to buy a ticket to win the lottery…Fine Print: ****My story in no way influences the lottery)**


	8. New discoveries and training!

More than a Ninja

Chapter eight: Two Months of Training

Naruto woke up the next morning. He was exited for his training and opted to not let his conversation with the Sandaime effect his training. He also decided to ask Jiraiya about his parents. He finished his morning rituals and was off to the hot springs.

"So you made it?" Jiraiya asked, not even looking away from his peeping hole.

"Yeah, I wouldn't miss training!" Naruto yelled quietly. Jiraiya nodded and motioned for the blond to follow him to a less populated part of town. They arrived at a river clearing and Naruto turned towards his new teacher.

"Did you know my parents? I mean I know you knew my dad, but did you know my mom?" Naruto asked suddenly. This surprised Jiraiya, having only recently put two and two together himself.

"How do you know about that?! Sarutobi wouldn't even trust _me_ with that information!" The toad sage yelled as he shook his hands in the air. The yell was, unfortunately, loud enough to scare the girls who were in the river away.

"The Kyubi told me and Hokage-sama confirmed it." Naruto stated, not soundly too pleased about either.

Jiraiya sighed and spoke. "Your father…he was a great man. He was so laid back, but when a mission or a fight happened…he was a completely different person. He was calculating, fierce and had the strength to back it up. He looked a lot like you…He was so happy about becoming a father. He would always spend time with you when you were still in your mother." Jiraiya took a breath. "Your mother was named Uzumaki Kushina. She was an ex whirlpool-nin. She fled to Konoha when Whirlpool was destroyed. She then became one of our elite Anbu officers. In Whirlpool…she was called the red death, due to her red hair. She was cocky, stubborn and loved ramen with a passion. I guess you inherited her side of the family…" Jiraiya joked. Naruto let a small laugh at this.

"So they loved me?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya nodded.

"They loved you so much…I hope you understand why Minato used you for the container…" The toad hermit trailed off.

"I think I do…" Naruto smiled at his new teacher.

"Ok, now onto business…Try and summon a toad." Jiraiya instructed, ending the bonding experience the two just shared. Naruto nodded and focused chakra to his arm. He bit his thumb and formed the seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!" He screamed and a puff of smoke erupted. Standing in front of him was a frog no bigger than your average tree frog. Naruto sweat dropped. Jiraiya looked impressed but soon changed to uninterested.

"You must suck kid! Here I though you'd be a natural." Jiraiya laughed, hiding the fact that he was tremendously impressed at the fact that it wasn't a tadpole. Naruto growled and for the rest of the day he would continue to repeat the same jutsu over, and over again, not getting any different results.

"God! What is the problem with me?" Naruto growled out in frustration. He turned when he heard clapping.

"Great work, kid. My first day at it, I couldn't even summon a frog, only tadpoles." Jiraiya praised, causing Naruto to grin and he turned to leave for the night, only to turn back around.

"Jiraiya-sensei…I have this ability…I can teleport anywhere I have ever been, or can see." Naruto admitted. Jiraiya widened his eyes in shock.

"Who all knows about it?" The toad sage asked.

"Um…Kaka-sensei, Hokage-sama, Sakura, Kiba, you and the people we met in wave." Naruto listed the names. Jiraiya nodded. He knew what this ability was…he also knew why Naruto had it.

"Are you planning on using it against the Uchiha?" Jiraiya asked.

"No he's not worth it. I'll use my other techniques." Naruto stated. Jiraiya nodded and told Naruto to go home safely.

Standing on top of a post, unknown to both the ninja he was watching, was an old man. They man seemed to need a cane to walk and had white hair with a matching beard. He wore a black shirt and gray khaki shorts. He seemed to be looking at the young blond in front of him. _'Intresting…'_ He thought as he all of a sudden disappeared with a ripple of the air.

_The next day…_

Naruto woke up in a daze, still not quite believing everything that had happened in the last few days. He was being trained by one of the strongest leaf ninja, he was moving on to the chunin finals, and he was going to be facing Uchiha Sasuke. He was very excited to be able to finally put the stuck up Uchiha in his place. Naruto got ready and was out the door so fast, he didn't even remember if he locked the door. He wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings and he ended up knocking an old man carrying bags of groceries in his hands.

"Ahhh!" The old man cried out as he plummeted to the ground. Naruto looked on, horrified that he had knocked the man down.

"I'm so sorry! Here let me help you pick up your groceries!" Naruto panicked as he created shadow clones to pick up the groceries and helped the elder up.

"Why thank you, sonny. You should watch where you are going so you don't run into anyone else?" The man scolded kindly. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Hehe…I guess I wasn't looking where I was going…So is there anything else I can do for you?" Naruto kindly offered.

"Well…You could help me bring my groceries home…" The old man chuckled.

"Naruto." Naruto answered the man's unasked question. He was half expecting the man to shoo him away, but was pleasantly surprised when the man merely smiled.

"My name is Takai. My house is this way, Naruto-san." Takai motioned for the clearly younger boy to follow him. When they arrived at the house Takai graciously thanked the young man who had helped him.

"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" Takai offered. Naruto politely declined. "Nonsense! You're coming in for the cup of tea! I insist." Takai laughed in a gruff voice. Naruto nodded and followed the old man into his house. He took a seat at the table while Takai put the pot on the kettle.

"So are you a ninja?" Takai asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Naruto confirmed and asked a question of his own.

"You're headband…" Takai pointed out, causing Naruto to sweat drop. The loud screeching noise let Takai know that the tea was done. "I'll be right back." He returned moments later with two cups of tea. Naruto sipped the tea slowly, savoring the flavor.

"You sure do like the tea, eh Namikaze?" The old man laughed gruffly. Naruto's eyes shot open at this.

"W-what did you say?" The blond Jinchuriki stuttered out.

"Namikaze." The old man smirked. Naruto picked Takai up by the collar of his shirt, completely ignoring his old age.

"How do you know about that?" Naruto asked in a deadly tone.

"I know allot of things…" Takai grinned as he brought his cane up and whipped the younger fellow in the arm. "Follow me if you seek answers." The old man then disappeared in a ripple of the air, causing Naruto to gasp.

"H-how?!" He asked himself. He noticed he could still see the faint ripples where the 'jump' occurred. He crunched his eyebrows in frustration and suddenly an idea formed in his head. He then 'jumped' through the old man's 'jump' hole.

Naruto found himself on top of the Hokage's monument. Takai was standing over the edge.

"Who are you?" Naruto questioned with venom in his voice. The man merely grinned and 'jumped' again. Naruto growled and followed into the ripple. He all of a sudden found himself in an abandoned looking house. Takai was sitting on the couch.

"So you've figured we can follow in each others dimensional rips?" Takai asked. Naruto looked confused.

"Kyubi said that this ability was only exclusively for my family…"

"Exactly. My name is Namikaze Taki. I am your great, great, great and many more greats, grandfather." The old man smirked at Naruto's look of confusion.

"How old are you?!" Naruto finally sputtered out.

"132 years and counting!" The old man laughed out. Naruto face faulted at this.

"Ok…Where did you come from?" Naruto questioned.

"I've been traveling the world for years now, ever since the rest of the clan banished me." Takai nodded to himself.

"Why would they banish you?" Naruto asked, thoroughly confused.

"Well…You see…The clan head at the time was named Daisuke. He was always jealous that he didn't have the abilities I have. He convinced the rest of the clan that I was evil, a hell spawn. They eventually presented me with a choice; Leave or die. As you can guess I left. I heard many years later that the entire clan was killed in a civil war. Apparently I was mistaken. My grandson survived. He then had a son, who had a son, who had a daughter, who had a son who was the father of Minato. You probably know by now that Minato was your father." Takai took a breath. "Now as to why I am here…I came to find the last descendant of the clan…and tell you that soon you will be the _last_. My time on this earth is running out. I came to explain to you some of our abilities and to tell you to restore the Namikaze clan to the way it was made." Naruto was now in shock. He had a relative alive. He had someone that was like him.

"So what can we do besides teleport?" Naruto questioned.

"Well teleporting is basically our only ability. We can also bring with us anything that moves, and some still things. I warn you to be careful about what you 'jump' with. The jumper before me killed himself trying to 'jump' the entire house." Takai warned. This made Naruto's eyes widen for what seemed like the thousandth time. He could theoretically move a house? Well of course he would die…and that would be a problem.

"How long are you staying?" Naruto asked, not wanting to lose the only family he had ever had so soon.

"I'm afraid I have to leave right away. There is something I must do before I die…" Takai explained. Naruto understood that was the only answer he was going to get so he nodded his head in understanding.

"Thank you…I'll make you proud! I'll make the whole family proud!" Naruto pumped his fist into the air and a broad grin etched itself onto his handsome visage. Takai was thoroughly convinced he had made the right decision in coming here.

"Good luck…" These were the last words Takai would ever speak to Naruto as he disappeared into thin air. Naruto sighed and made his way to his training ground. He knew he wouldn't be able to focus on training today.

_Suna Hotel…_

Temari stared out the window. Her mind was a mess. On one hand she was thinking and preparing for the upcoming war. On another she couldn't get that blond Konoha-nin out of her head.

_'Gah! What is the matter with me? I don't even know him…yet the thought of him dying in the invasion…I can't stand this! What do I do?!' _Temari inwardly fought herself, trying to determine the best course of action. She heard the door creak open as Kankuro walked in.

"What?" She barked at her younger brother.

"I wanted to talk to you about that blond boy…" Kankuro started. This further infuriated Temari. "You can't let any attraction you have towards him cloud your judgment. We are going to be fighting a war. This is for the best. This is for Suna." Kankuro stated. This got Temari thinking.

"Is it?" She muttered after a long silence.

"What was that?" Kankuro narrowed his eyes.

"I said: Is it? Is this war really for the best? Is _any _war really worth it? What are we going to gain? There are always wars between the countries…What we had with Konoha was peace…alliance…I don't feel right turning on our allies like this." Temari concluded. Kankuro was listening. He had thought of some of this as well.

"I know what you mean. We just have to trust that Kazekage-sama knows what he is doing…I just hope Gaara knows friend from foe…" Kankuro muttered and Temari nodded.

"Anyway…That blond means nothing to me. He is just a guy. Nothing more, nothing less." Temari didn't know who she was trying to convince…Kankuro or herself.

_Back at hotsprings…_

"Why can't I summon anything bigger?!" Naruto growled out as he summoned a small frog for the five hundredth time in a row. He hadn't made any progress in the entire time he had been summoning. Even Jiraiya was concerned. Jiraiya noted that Naruto had got off to a great start, but he had made little to no progress at all. He looked pleadingly at Jiraiya.

"I don't know kid…I really don't know. If I had to guess…I'd say your chakra control is piss poor." The toad hermit concluded. Naruto merely growled. "Why don't we call it a day?" Naruto grudgingly walked off, wondering what his problem was.

_Outskirts of Konoha…_

Uchiha Itachi was angry, no he was downright furious! After his encounter with the blond he had been temporarily blind for two days, two days! If that wasn't bad enough after he gained his sight back he had found out he couldn't activate his Mangekyo Sharingan. He tried countless times only to come up with the same conclusion every time. His cursed eyes were gone. He didn't know how or why they were gone. All he knew is they were gone. Without the Mangekyo everything he had worked for was gone. The staged massacre, the having Sasuke seek vengeance, everything! He knew he couldn't let anyone in Akatsuki know about this development. Without the Mangekyo he was severely less useful to the organization. He cursed the demon fox for the umpteenth time that day for whatever it had done to him.

_Naruto's house, later that night…_

Naruto woke up in an all too familiar sewer. He sighed, annoyed at his misfortune. The blond decided to see what the fox wanted so he begrudgingly started on the long walk to the center. He arrived to see the familiar gate, familiar seal; even the familiar 200 meter tall demon fox that he knew would be plotting his demise.

"Yes?" Naruto asked, clearly annoyed at being summoned by his 'prisoner'.

"**Foolish ningen! You complain before you even hear what I have to say!**" The fox's booming voice bellowed. Naruto sighed.

"What is that?"

"**Have you noticed that your chakra control has never improved much, no matter how much you work at it?**" The Kyubi grinned.

"What did you do?" Naruto demanded in a harsh voice.

"**Over the years I have been mixing small amounts of my Yokai into your chakra system, not enough to seriously damage you, but enough to throw off your chakra control.**" The demon lord explained. This caused Naruto to narrow his eyes.

"Well knock it off!" Naruto growled. The fox merely chuckled.

"**The reason I've called you here…Is to make a deal. I will stop messing with your control, give you heightened senses, and even make it so you can control my chakra without my influence and damaging effects…under one condition.**" The fox smirked. Naruto's eyes stayed narrowed. He didn't trust the fox.

"I'm listening."

"**My condition is short and simple. You are to kill Uchiha Madara.**"

"Who?" Naruto asked, not knowing who the Uchiha was.

"**Uchiha Madara is a man I am not exactly on friendly terms with. He is also coincidently looking for the Jinchuriki. So either way you will have to combat him. This way you will be more likely to defeat him.**" Kyubi explained. Naruto still didn't trust the fox but decided it was worth a shot.

"And if I refuse?" Naruto asked, waiting for a response as he glared into the large fox's eyes.

"**Not only will Uchiha Madara kill you in the future…but I will destroy your chakra control and you will never be able to continue with being a ninja.**" The Kyubi smirked evilly at this. Naruto widened his eyes. He still didn't know whether or not to completely trust the fox, he probably never would, but it couldn't do more harm than it could do well.

"Fine. I agree to your terms." Naruto finally answered.

"**Good. Demons never go back on their word. I will separate my chakra from yours so your control will return. You will also be able to use my chakra without the side effects, at least as much as your puny human body can handle. Now leave, I grow bored of you.**" Naruto found himself fading from his mindscape once again, only to wake up in his sweaty bed sheets. He sighed and got up to get a drink of water.

'_Wonder if it actually worked?'_ Naruto thought suspiciously. He created a ram sign and started to focus chakra. _'Holy crap! It feels so much easier to control now! Maybe this is why I couldn't summon anything with ero-sennin…hmmm maybe tomorrow?'_ With that thought Naruto drifted into a dreamless sleep.

_The next day…_

Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya. Jiraiya had a shocked expression on his face.

"Are we talking about _the_ Uchiha Madara?" Jiraiya asked, clearly dumbfounded.

"Yeah…Who is he?" Naruto questioned lamely. Jiraiya sighed.

"Uchiha Madara was the founder of the Uchiha clan. He fought head to head against the Shodaime Hokage when he defected. He is said to be dead…he is also said to have wielded the eternal mangekyo Sharingan…it has all the bonuses of the Mangekyo but no drawbacks. He would be over 100 years old and the Kyubi says you have to kill him?" Jiraiya explained and then questioned. Naruto nodded. He was now slightly afraid about what was the come. He figured to conquer one obstacle at a time though.

"You really are something…Let's see if this new chakra control helps you at all. Put in as much chakra as you did yesterday." Jiraiya ordered. Naruto nodded.

"**Summoning Jutsu!**" As soon as Naruto slammed his palm on the ground a large puff of smoke erupted around him. Standing there was a giant toad, not as big as the famed Gamabunta, but still pretty big. It wore a large suit of battle armor with a single long blade on its back.

"**Who has summoned me?**" The large toad tried to look around for the culprit. He looked on his head when he saw a young man.

"That was me." Naruto explained with joy in his voice.

"**I see. The toad summoning contract has a new signature. You will have to summon Gamabunta-sama to finalize the deal**." With that the toad disappeared in an equally as big plumb of smoke. Naruto turned to an awe-struck Jiraiya.

"I-if you put that much chakra into the jutsu yesterday and got a _tadpole_ just imagine how much unnecessary chakra you pump into your other jutsu!" Jiraiya yelled while flapping his hands around wildly. Naruto nodded at the point, clearly happy with his new found control. "I know I am going to regret this…but summon Gamabunta. Put as much chakra as you can into the jutsu." The toad hermit mentally kicked himself for saying this. He really didn't want to deal with the toad today. Naruto grinned.

"You betcha!" Naruto repeated the summoning and soon an enormous plumb of smoke, easily dwarfing the last, appeared. When it cleared there was a massive toad with a blue cloak. He had a small (By his standards at least) sword and a lone scar down his eye. Naruto noticed he was smoking a pipe.

"**Jiraiya! What is the meaning of this?!**" The toad boss started, only to feel the presence of a human on his head. "**And he summoned me below a little punk? When I find that little…**" Before Gamabunta could list the clearly painful things he would do, Naruto interrupted.

"Actually Gamabunta sir, I summoned you." The blonde addressed towards the large toad.

Gamabunta laughed at this. "**Haha! As if a little brat like you could have enough chakra to summon me!**" This infuriated Naruto.

"What did you say? I summoned you and that's final. Even ask ero-sennin." Naruto looked to see the sannin noticeably absent.

"**You've got balls kid, yelling at me like that. Even if you did summon me, which you didn't, there is now way a little snot nosed brat like you would ever be my henchman, let alone my master!**" Bunta laughed.

Naruto was positively pissed now. "Oh yeah! Well I bet you that it was me who summoned you. I'd prove it to if there was a way."

Gamabunta nodded. "**Summon me again. Than I'll believe you.**" The large frog was absolutely sure the kid would never be able to summon him, because he still didn't believe he did in the first place. Gamabunta then disappeared, leaving Naruto freefalling to the ground. He 'jumped' to ground and huffed. The blond then went through the summoning seals again. Soon enough he was standing face to face with Gamabunta.

To say he was surprised would be like saying that Jiraiya was a closet pervert. He took a close look at the blond and noticed one distinctive thing. He had three symmetrical whisker marks on his face. _'__**I'll be damned…it's the Kyubi Jinchuriki. Maybe he really did summon me…My god he looks so much like Minato…I wonder…**__'_ Gamabunta thought. "**Hmm. I guess I misjudged you kid. You can summon the toads and I hereby name you my henchman. Only summon me for two reasons; a good fight, or to have a drink.**" Naruto chuckled at this when the toad disappeared.

Jiraiya soon appeared in a puff of smoke. "Nice work kid! I didn't expect you to be able to summon him twice! I guess we'll get to work on your new training a week before schedule. Here." Jiraiya said as he passed the young boy a water balloon. Forgetting his anger, Naruto looked at the balloon quizzically.

"Your goal is to pop the water balloon with only your chakra. You basically have to make what I showed you inside the balloon." Naruto remembered the spiraling ball of chakra Jiraiya had created three weeks ago. He nodded and started to spin his chakra. He saw the balloon start to move and got excited. He noticed after a while that nothing was happening.

"How come it's not popping?" Naruto asked.

"Here I'll demonstrate." Naruto tossed the water balloon to the sannin, who proceeded to hold it in his palm. After a few moments the balloon started to bulge wildly until it popped from all directions, leaving a neatly shredded balloon. Naruto looked at the shredded remains for a few moments.

"Hmm…Why doesn't my balloon do this?" Naruto asked himself.

"I think we should continue in the morning. You've been through a lot in these last 3 weeks, and the next 5 will be even rougher." Jiraiya explained. He was caught off guard as Naruto's balloon all of a suddenly popped just as his did.

"Yatta! I did it!" Naruto cheered as he jumped up and down.

Jiraiya's jaw hit the floor. "How did you…"

"I saw that your balloon was going in every direction so I figured that spinning the water in one direction would be wrong. I then decided to try multiple directions at the same time, obviously it worked. I guess having good chakra control helps a lot huh?" Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Jiraiya grinned at his student. If he could master the first step of the Rasengan in one day, he could easily master the whole thing in 3-4 weeks. He tried vainly to hide his astonishment.

"Well that was good, but the next steps are much harder. Come here tomorrow and I'll explain it." Jiraiya explained as he fake yawned. Naruto knew he wasn't tired and that he just wanted to peep on girls so he nodded and 'jumped' home.

_With Sakura…_

Sakura lied on the ground, panting. She was thoroughly exhausted from the strenuous exercise her teacher was putting her through. The pinkette did, however, understand her general need of improvement.

"Come on Sakura, if you just give up like that you will never make chunin." Kakashi eye smiled at his unfortunate student as he jogged up behind her. She nodded and grudgingly stood up. Over the last few weeks Kakashi had been having her wear weights, and do extremely strenuous workouts. The scarecrow claimed it was to catch up on her clearly lacking taijutsu, and to gain the edge over Shikamaru at his worst area. Sakura believed he secretly just liked to see her suffer. She mentally cursed cruel teachers and prayed for child labor laws as she began jogging _and_ dodging dull kunai being thrown at her curtsey of Kakashi. She really hoped it would all pay off in the end.

_5 weeks later, day before chunin exam finals…_

"Hmm. It appears we are ahead of schedule." A dark figure muttered to a room full of hazy figures. They all had one thing in coming. They all were dressed in red cloaks with red clouds on them.

"Yes indeed. We will start our move three years from today. We will start with the Jinchuriki of the Shukaku." The seemingly leader spoke. The other eight nodded and disappeared.

_Day of the Chunin finals…_

Naruto walked to the stadium at a moderate pace. He was inwardly excited for his upcoming match with the Uchiha. He couldn't wait to wipe the floor with the kid. Naruto was happy about his accomplishments in the last two months. He had learned to summon, and learned the Rasengan. It had taken him exactly 4 weeks and 2 days to learn, but he couldn't be prouder of himself. He knew Sasuke didn't know any jutsu as strong as it.

The blond walked with a certain bounce in his step. He soon arrived at the stadium and looked in awe at the number of people in the audience. There must have been 30,000 people. He looked to see every participant in the finals standing in a row. He glared at Neji and merely skipped over Sasuke. He lingered a little at Temari and gazed at everyone else normally.

"Naruto!" Sakura called as she came running towards the blond. Naruto smiled at her. He looked her up and down and noticed she had kept her hair short. Naruto nodded at this, it was more practical. He also noted that she seemed to have a lot more muscle on her than she used to. The most surprising difference was the pair of tantos that were strapped in an 'X' formation on her back.

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto called back.

"So do you think you're ready?" Sakura questioned her teammate. Naruto nodded and gave her a thumb's up.

"Heck yeah. Sasuke is as good as defeated already." Naruto grinned confidently. Sakura nodded but seemed a little unsure. They turned when they saw the proctor enter.

"Hello, my name is Shiranui Genma. I will be the proctor for the third and final round of the Chunin Selection Exams. The rules will be the same as in the preliminaries, meaning there are no rules. The only exception is when I call the match, it _will_ be done. Clear?" This earned him a group of nods. "Thank you all for coming to The Chunin Selection Exams and please enjoy the show. Will all the participants except for Hyuga Neji and Rock Lee report to the competitors seats?" At this the group left, leaving just Lee and Neji standing facing eachother.

_In the stands…_

The competitors could basically sit wherever they wanted within the two rows they were given. Temari and Kankuro noticeably sat away from their brother, who opted to stand in the far corner.

"I'll be right back, I gotta piss." Kankuro stood up and walked away. Temari rolled her eyes and continued to look down at the center. She didn't notice as a familiar blond walked next to her.

"Is this seat taken?" Naruto asked. Temari immediately blushed. She started to panic before she answered.

"N-no! Go ahead and sit here." Temari sputtered out. Naruto grinned and took the seat. Temari kind of felt bad for kicking her brother out of a seat…but she got over it real quick.

"So how do you think you're going to do in your match?" Temari asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Well I know Sasuke is no pushover. I think I'll be able to beat him though. I trained my butt off these last few months." Naruto grinned. "How bout you?"

"My opponent uses long range weapons and I am a wind user, so I believe I should win. She probably knows this and trained in an area that couldn't be deflected as easily, however." Temari explained. Naruto nodded, having had came to the same conclusion himself. Kankuro walked up and looked angrily at the blond for a second.

"Move!" Kankuro commanded harshly. Naruto looked questionable at Temari.

"I thought you said this seat wasn't taken?" This caused Kankuro to glare at his sister.

"It Isn't!" Temari answered as she glared daggers at her younger brothers. Kankuro gulped, catching the glare. He knew that getting on the wrong side of an angry Temari was almost as bad as being alone with Gaara. Almost.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the display but continued to make small talk with Temari until the match was about to start.

"If both contestants are ready, I hereby call the first match of the final round of the chunin selection exams to begin!" Genma then body flickered out of the ring.

Lee took his normal Goken stance. "Neji…I've wanted to fight you since the day I was put on a team with you. Right here and now I will prove that hard work and determination will overcome natural born talent any day!" Lee cheered as he flashed Neji his 'nice guy pose'.

"You really are a fool. I am fated to win this match."

Neji's Byakugan stared into the black eyes of his longtime teammate for what seemed like an eternity. As if on some unspoken signal the two fighters charged forward, intent on starting out strong.

**A/N. Done! I'm SOOOO sorry it took so long. I would have had this out Wednesday, but our internet went out. And then when it came back up apparently my email had lost the already 60% version of this chapter, so I had to start from trash. If that wasn't enough my friend just got out of the hospital on thursday so i was hanging out with him for the last few days.. I hope this chapter was enough to make up for it. REVIEW OR ELSE!**

**(****Note: The only thing that will happen if you don't review is the author will be sad. Please review anyway.)**


	9. The Chunin Exam Finals! The Secrets out!

More Than a Ninja

Chapter nine: The Third Round Begins!

Before I begin I would like to thank everyone for reviewing and reading! My story is almost to 30k hits already and over 100 reviews (:. I've been looking forward to this chapter for awhile and I hope you enjoy it as well. Please read and review. Also be sure to check out The Yellow Flash of Kiri, my other story.

_Chunin Exam Stadium…_

Lee immediately tried to roundhouse kick Neji in his 'Leaf Hurricane'. Neji, anticipating such a move, easily blocked it with his forearm.

_'My Jyuken is practically useless to block his chakra points…Although I can still damage his organs. This may be more challenging then I expected.' _Neji mused. Lee spun himself out of Neji's grip and jumped backwards.

"Give up. Fate is on my side. You are a fool for trying to defy fate." Neji stated calmly. Lee merely grinned.

"I disagree with you Neji-kun! I will prove today that hard work and determination can defeat pure genius. You are a fool for underestimating me Neji-kun, my eternal rival. The flames of youth burn brightly." Lee shouted as he settled back into his Goken stance. Neji narrowed his eyes.

"So be it." He then charged forward at high speeds, but nothing Lee wasn't ready for. He attempted to palm thrust Lee in his stomach, only for the green-clad ninja to block the wrist at the last second and sending a fist towards the cocky Hyuga's face. As predicted, Neji blocked the fist and 'Jyukened' Lee in the side. Lee doubled over in pain.

The youthful ninja pushed himself back up, much to his bodies protests.

"I will never give up!" Lee yelled.

"Lee! Take them off!" Lee turned to see Gai giving him a sparkly smile. Lee gasped at this.

"But Gai-sensei! You told me never to take them off unless I was protecting my precious people or ninja way!" Lee announced. This confused everyone present, even Lee's teammates.

"Hai Gai-sensei! I will make you proud." Lee then reached down and unstrapped his leg warmers, revealing leg weights. He took them off and held them parallel to the ground.

"I don't see what a couple pounds are going to do…" Tenten muttered.

BOOM. This was the sound that was made when the two leg weights literally made craters in the ground. "I stand corrected." Tenten gaped.

"I can move much more freely now." Lee smiled as he literally vanished into a blur. He reappeared no more than a second later in front of Neji, fist sailing into the Hyuga's face. Neji gaped as he was sent flying back into the wall. He got up and growled, before settling into his Jyuken Stance.

"Byakugan!" Neji growled as the veins around his eyes seemed to bulge out. Lee appeared in front of him again, but Neji was expecting it this time and managed to not only block Lee's attack, but to slip an attack in of his own. He struck Lee's chest with a Jyuken strike, narrowly missing the heart. Lee narrowed his eyes and sent Neji sailing away with a carefully aimed punch.

"I'll admit you are stronger than I thought. But you are still a failure, and once a failure, always a failure." Neji stated as he wiped blood from his mouth. He grunted through the pain and ran straight at his teammate.

"Foolish." Neji stated. "You are within my range of division." This caused Hiashi to openly gap; a branch member _teaching _himself the 64 palms was unheard of. "Two Palms." Neji yelled as he struck with two finger strikes. "Four Palms. Eight Palms. Sixteen palms. Thirty two palms. Sixty four palms!" Neji finally yelled as he struck all of Lee's chakra points. "It's over. With all your chakra sealed, you won't even be able to move. Give up." Lee growled.

"I was hoping to use this on you. Neji I have been saving this to be able to finally best you." Lee ignored his body's protests and stood up strong. Chakra started to whip around him wildly. "Initial Gate: Release!" Lee's wounds immediately began to heal. His chakra levels began to rise astoundingly.

Up in the stands Kakashi turned to Gai.

"You taught him to open the gates?! You know what that can do to a person!" Kakashi berated his old time rival. Sakura turned, curious.

"What are the gates?" She asked. Kakashi turned to her.

"There are eight celestial gates that restrict the flow of chakra in your body. By adding extreme amounts of pressure one can open these gates to give them a tremendous boost. A normal person is able to use about 20% of the bodies muscle…the gates work by forcing the body to use all of it's muscle. If you go too high into the gates; your muscles will start to tear. The gates will give you a tremendous boost for a short amount of time. However the effects of their body far outweigh the advantages. In a nutshell; If a person was to open the eight gates…they can gain power beyond the Kage's…but the drawback…they would die." Sakura gasped at this and Gai nodded solemnly.

"I had too. You don't know Lee. You don't know how far he is willing to go for his dream. It is my responsibility to give him every bit of help I can in this. He will never give up. His dream is to show the world he can be a great ninja, even without the use of Ninjutsu or Genjutsu." Gai reasoned.

"How many can he open?" Kakashi asked. Gai hesitated.

"Five. He can open Five." Gai responded. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock.

"What?! Are you mad?" Gai didn't respond.

Lee didn't seem to be stopping any time soon. "Heal Gate: Release!" The chakra continued to increase as Lee continued. "Life Gate: Release!" Lee's skin started to glow orange and his veins bulged out and his chakra seemed to glow red. He then disappeared and knocked Neji back in a massive shockwave of energy. Neji stumbled up again as he rubbed his cheek from the blow. Lee then appeared below him and sent him sailing in the air with an upward kick. He then appeared behind his rival and delivered a menacing punch, sending him flying in the air, only to be intercepted by lee again. This continued until Lee eventual sent Neji flying towards the ground, only for him to catch him by his bandages, pull him back and knock him back down in a shockwave. Neji knew impacting the ground at this rate would kill him, so he brought up all the chakra he had left and started to rotate.

"Rotation!" He yelled as the shield of chakra crashed into the ground. The result kicked up enormous amounts of dust. When it cleared it showed a bleeding and bruised Neji, unable to move. Lee stood on the other end, still in his goken stance. Looking closer you would see that he was too physically exhausted to remain conscious, yet he was still standing. Gai's eyes watered at the sight of this.

"Lee! You have proven yourself to be an excellent shinobi, worthy of the utmost respect! Even in the break of unconsciousness you still stand up to fight." Gai shouted through tears.

"Gai-sensei! I've finally done it! I've proven that you don't need ninjutsu or genjutsu to be a great ninja!" Lee yelled out as he passed out, falling onto his back.

"Due to neither combatant able to continue: I call this match a draw!" Genma shouted. The crowd roared in approval, some still watery eyed from Lee's determination. They had witnessed _the _Hyuga prodigy fought to a standstill by a no named, dead last, who couldn't even use ninjutsu! It was definitely a match worth watching.

"That was definitely an entertaining match." One of the judges announced.

"Yes. Both contestants show a lot of skill; however I don't believe either of them really deserves the rank. Perhaps next time?" Another said.

"It did seem there wasn't much planning on either side." The third agreed.

Naruto grinned up in the stadium at the match. He definitely thought Lee was a strong opponent.

"Will Aburame Shino and Sabaku no Gaara please report to the stadium?" Genma announced. Gaara grinned with visible bloodlust. Temari and Kankuro flinched; which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto. Shino looked as uninterested as ever, but inside he was getting ready for one hell of a fight. He'd seen what the sand-user could do.

"If both contestants are ready: Begin." Genma announced.

"I do hope you amuse me more than my last opponent did. Mother really wants blood today!" Gaara grinned psychotically. If Shino was intimidated, he didn't show it. Shino's bugs swarmed out of his sleeves, intent on draining the chakra of the sand user. They went towards at the sand user at high speeds. As soon as they got within a foot, a wall of sand rose to defend Gaara, the bugs tried to absorb the chakra from the sand, but died as soon as they were exposed to the demonic chakra.

_'This is very illogical. If my bugs are no use against him I don't have any other options…He won't stop before I'm dead…I guess I'll have to concede.'_

"Proctor, I concede." Shino stated. Gaara growled as he grabbed his head.

"I'm sorry mother…I will get you your blood, I promise!" He yelled out, scaring the crap out of the rest of the people.

Naruto turned to Temari. "You're brother seems kind of—insane." Naruto pointed out.

"You don't know the half of it." She muttered. Naruto frowned but didn't pester.

"With Aburame Shino admitting defeat, I hereby announce Sabaku no Gaara the winner!" The audience noise wasn't nearly as loud after this. In fact, most of them were on the verge of soiling themselves after the display from the red headed teen.

"The next match will be between Haruno Sakura and Nara Shikamaru." Genma announced.

Up in the Kage's deck, Sarutobi looked toward the Kazekage. "Your son seems very unstable."

"He is." Was all the Kazekage said in return.

"If both contestants are ready: Let the match begin!"

"Troublesome! I have to fight against a girl again!" Shikamaru muttered as he bashed his head into his hand. Sakura growled at this.

"What did you say?" She growled as she cracked her knuckles. Shikamaru was immediately analyzing the situation. Sakura looked to have done some serious training over the last two months. She had put on more muscle and looked much more serious. She even had twin tantos on her back. He knew this match wouldn't be very easy. Sakura knew she wasn't going to get a response, so she pulled out a sealing scroll. Shikamaru eyed the scroll wearily as Sakura smeared her blood on it.

"**Water Clone Jutsu!**" Sakura announced as five water clones appeared to the side of her. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes.

_'She sealed water into a scroll to use for her jutsu…hmm interesting…'_ With this thought Shikamaru extended his shadow, trying to catch the group of Sakura's. As the shadow approached the group of six jumped separately. Shikamaru mumbled a troublesome at this. He didn't know which one to try and catch. The Sakura's grinned as they charged in, faster then Shikamaru expected from the supposed weakest genin. He threw six kunai at the clones, only for every one of them to dodge. Shikamaru once again extended his shadow, catching one of the Sakura's. It smirked before it burst into water. A second Sakura appeared behind it, capitalizing on the new source of water.

"**Water Dragon Jutsu!**" Sakura yelled as an enormous dragon appeared behind her. The dragon spun protectively around her before it shot at amazing speeds at the lazy genius.

_Stands…_

Kakashi grinned at the looks of shock plastered on the rest of the rookie's faces, even Naruto's. Sakura had learned an A-ranked water Jutsu! They had all counted her as a weakling, and she was proving them wrong.

_Back on Battle floor..._

Shikamaru narrowly dodged the Jutsu. He knew if it had hit, he'd be finished. Sakura stood panting. She had expected to win with that. Her chakra reserves, while not nearly as low as they had been, were still only average genin and she only had enough chakra for a single water dragon. Shikamaru noticed Sakura's apparent tiredness and sent out his shadow to try and capture her. She dodged backwards until the shadow suddenly abruptly stopped. A look of realization plastered itself onto her face.

"I see. Your shadow jutsu has a limit. If I just stay behind this line I will be out of your range." Sakura confirmed as she marked a line with one of her tantos. Shikamaru closed his eyes and put his hands into his 'thinking pose'. A few minutes later Shikamaru's eyes lazily fluttered open as an idea popped into his head. He needed to stall.

"Troublesome woman. You're almost as bad as Ino." Shikamaru purposely taunted. A vein appeared in Sakura's head.

"What was that?! Oh you are so dead!" Sakura ran forward until she was about to pass the line. She, however, stopped and looked down. The pinkette figured Shikamaru's intentions were to get her to cross the line. She smirked when she just stood there.

"Ha. I guess I figured you out huh?" Sakura asked. Shikamaru feigned a look of annoyance as he created his shadow. The shadow, however, passed the line and just about got Sakura. If it wasn't for her quick reflexes, she would have been a goner. "How?" She muttered. "The walls shadow!" Sakura shouted when the answer came to her.

_Stands…_

"I think Sakura's got your student beat, Asuma." Kakashi looked to the chain-smoking Jonin. Asuma merely smoked.

"I wouldn't count Shika out yet. He is always 10 steps ahead of his opponent." Asuma finished.

_Match…_

Sakura made another mark in the ground with her tanto. She then fired a group of shuriken at the lazy ninja, which we deflected by a kunai in his hand. She would use jutsu, but her reserves desperately needed to recharge from the water dragon. Sakura took out a kunai and was about to throw it, when she discovered she couldn't move.

"Wh-what? How?" Sakura asked as she found Shikamaru's shadow connected to her from the back. The Shikamaru in front of her faded away, this revealed it to be just a clone.

"When you looked away I switched myself with a clone. Since then I waited until you fell into my trap. It's over." Shikamaru moved his right arm to his neck. This arm just happened to be the same arm Sakura had a kunai in. "Give up or I will slit your throat." Shikamaru threatened. Although Sakura was almost positive he was bluffing, she gave up regardless.

"I give up." She grudgingly announced.

"The winner is Nara Shikamaru." Genma announced. The audience roared in approval at the long, but interesting match. It was more of a battle of wits than raw power. Sakura sighed as she walked back up the stairs. On her way she passed Naruto.

"Great job out there Sakura! I didn't know you were so good!" The blond praised. Sakura nodded.

"Thanks. I hope I did well enough to be promoted to chunin…" She trailed off.

"I'm sure you did. I'm up next. Wish me luck." Naruto grinned as he walked past her. She nodded and remembered who he was up against. Uchiha Sasuke.

"Will Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto please report to the field?" Genma announced. The crowd immediately went deathly silent. It wasn't everyday the village pariah fought the last Uchiha. Many people had come to the Chunin Exams solely to see the Uchiha fight. The two contestants were soon standing across from each other. Sasuke hadn't changed his look at all in the last few months. He still wore his blue shirt and white shorts, and he was still as stuck up as ever.

"You should just give up. You stand no chance against an Uchiha like me." Sasuke 'helpfully' pointed out. Naruto grinned.

"It's gonna be priceless to see that smirk wiped off your face when I kick your ass." He proclaimed. Sasuke merely growled back.

"Let the Match begin!" Genma announced. Sasuke immediately charged forward, intent on getting the early upper hand. He attempted a straight jab, only for the blond to duck under it and land a knee to his gut. Sasuke growled and went through a set of seals.

"**Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu!**" Sasuke exhaled an enormous ball of fire that went flying towards Naruto. Naruto went through hand seals of his own.

"**Wind Release: Wind Dragon Jutsu!**" A dragon made of sharp wind blades roared and went flying towards Sasuke's fireball. The two attacks met in the middle and canceled each other out in a fierce blast, knocking the two competitors back. When the smoke cleared Naruto was already charging Sasuke, he attempted to sweep the raven haired boy's legs out, only for Sasuke to jump over his leg and plant a firm fist in the blonde's gut. Naruto jumped backwards to regain his breath. He didn't have long as Sasuke was already racing through a set of hand seals. He took a deep breath.

"**Fire Release: Phoenix flower Jutsu!" **Five small balls of fire shot out at Naruto. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he finished his own jutsu.

"**Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!**" The blast of wind easily deflected the small fireballs and sent the hidden shuriken flying back towards Sasuke. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and dodged the shuriken.

"It's time to get serious." He closed his eyes and reopened them to reveal the famed Sharingan. Naruto narrowed his eyes and charged forward, not knowing what difference the eyes would make. He attempted to punch the Uchiha, only to get backhanded before he could even connect his punch. He growled as he continued to try to hit his opponent, only to experience similar results of blocking, dodging, and counter attacks.

"Weakling. There is no way a clan less loser like you can defeat an Uchiha. You're a weakling, your friends are weaklings and your teachers are weaklings. Do you honestly think you could become Hokage? As if! I know, how about I become Hokage? You wouldn't even be here if you didn't have that smelly mutt as your opponent in the first round." Sasuke smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto glared.

"It means you got it easy facing such a weak opponent. I, however, am not weak." Sasuke mocked. If looks could kill, Sasuke would have died a thousand times over.

"You can insult me all you want. I can tolerate it. You can even insult my dream and I'll tolerate it. But when you insult my friends, you crossed the line. I was just planning on humiliating you. Not anymore. I'm going to utterly destroy you now." Naruto had a look of dead seriousness on his face.

"As if!" Sasuke growled as he flipped backwards and landed on stadium wall. He then went through three hand seals before grabbing his wrist. Lightning erupted from his palm in a _very _familiar jutsu.

_Stadium crowd…_

Gai turned to Kakashi. "You taught him that jutsu!" Kakashi looked just as shocked.

"No…I didn't! I haven't even talked to the kid yet he knows my sole original jutsu!" The scarecrow seemed to get angrier as he continued.

"Then how could he have learned it?' Kurenai butted in.

"I'm not sure." Kakashi answered but inward he was thinking he knew who the suspect was. _Danzo._

In another part of the crowd Danzo smirked as he watched Sasuke perform the jutsu he had given him.

_Back on battle field…_

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the use of the Chidori. It was his sensei's personally jutsu. Sasuke had never been with them on a mission so it left two options. He had stolen it, or Kakashi had taught him it. Naruto highly doubted it was the latter because he knew Kakashi didn't like the kid at all. The blond Jinchuriki then smirked and held out his right palm. Soon chakra started to pick up before it started to spin into a sphere shape. The chakra looked like a mini-hurricane in a ball.

_Crowd…_

Temari gaped at the jutsu the two were performing. "What kind of Jutsu are those?" She asked her wide eyed sensei. "Sensei?"

He shook himself from his shock induced absence of mind. "Those are both extremely powerful A class assassination jutsu. The Lightning one is called the Chidori. It is the one and only original jutsu of the infamous Copy-nin. The one on the right is a creation of the Yondaime Hokage himself. It is called the Rasengan." Temari gawked at the stories behind the two jutsu. If leaf was full of ninja like this, she wasn't so sure about their odds.

Kakashi stood shocked at this sudden revelation. Naruto knew the rasengan. Sasuke knew his chidori. He did one thing no one who knew him would ever think he would do. He dropped his book and fainted.

Sasuke brought the jutsu to the side of the wall and carved a long trench into the wall as he ran down towards his blond haired enemy. Naruto merely created a shadow clone. The shadow clone hurled him into the air so he met with Sasuke as both thrust their respective jutsu at the other.

"**Chidori!**"

** "Rasengan!**"

The two jutsu met in a power deadlock as both fought for superiority. The sheer amounts of wild, untamed chakra made a blinding light around the two fighters. Soon enough an explosion knocked both the genin back as their jutsu canceled each other out. Sasuke glared at the blond for canceling out his trump card. Naruto was now beyond pissed

"Let me get this straight. First you insult me. Then you insult my friends. Then you insult me dream. You then insult my sensei by stealing his original jutsu." This caused gasps from the crowd. "Enough is enough. I'm going to absolutely _humiliate _you in front of thousands of people." He turned to his teammates and smirked. They crowd was in for a show.

"What could you possibly do? Both our trump cards are revealed." Sasuke stated matter-of-factly. Naruto merely grinned. Before Sasuke could blink Naruto disappeared into thin air. He reappeared a millisecond later and delivered a power punch to the Uchiha's face, sending him flying backwards. Before Sasuke could brace himself, Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke. He sent him flying upwards with an uppercut. Once again Naruto 'jumped' above him and delivered a flying axe kick, sending him flying into the ground.

"What the hell?" Sasuke gasped out as the wind was knocked out of him. Naruto then 'jumped' to his original position. This all took place in about 5 seconds. "W-What did you do?" Sasuke asked weakly. Naruto grinned.

"You like? It's my bloodline limit. I call it 'jumping'." This shocked the crowd. The boy had the ability to teleport place to place and claimed it was a bloodline.

"Sasuke is unable to continue; Uzumaki Naruto is the winner." Genma announced. The crowd was dead silence for a whole minute until a single man rose up and started to clap. He was followed by more and more people until the entire audience was roaring with approval. The Uchiha heir had been beaten, no humiliated by the village pariah.

In the Kage's booth Orochimaru licked his lips. _'That ability…I must have it! If the Kyubi didn't already infest that boy I'd mark him as my own.' _Orochimaru thought.

"Is something the matter?" Sarutobi asked, seeing the Kazekage starring.

"It's your shinobi…that is a very interesting ability no doubt." Orochimaru covered for himself. Sarutobi nodded, obviously excepting that answer.

"Yes indeed. It is his Kekkai Genkai that only shows up every 10 generations. It allows Naruto to teleport anywhere he's ever been, or anywhere he can see." Sarutobi answered. Orochimaru licked his lips under his veil.

Temari looked wide eyed at Naruto when he sat back down. Naruto noticed the starring and immediately rubbed the back of his head.

"Hehe…I told you I'd beat him!" He grinned. Temari blushed and nodded. She immediately hardened, knowing her match was up next and that she would have to forfeit it.

"Will Sabaku no Temari and Tenten of Konoha please report to the field?" Genma called. Tenten grinned and made her way down—only to be stopped at Temari's announcement.

"Proctor—I forfeit!" Temari yelled. This surprised pretty much everybody, including Naruto.

"Temari, why'd you quit without even fighting?" Naruto asked. Temari looked down in shame and mumbled something. "What was that?" Naruto asked.

"I said I'm sorry." As soon as those words left her lips glowing feathers started to fall down into the crowd, putting everyone who couldn't dispel genjutsu into a deep sleep. Naruto growled as he dispelled the genjutsu.

"What's going on?" He yelled as Temari, Kankuro and Gaara all left to a quieter place for Gaara to transform. Naruto didn't know where they were going or what was going on, but he was sure of two things. Number one: Konoha was being Invaded, and Number two: He wouldn't let the sand siblings get away. Naruto immediately took off at full speed after the suna-nin. Kakashi growled.

"Kiba, Sakura, find as many genin as you can and go after them!" Kakashi ordered. Kiba and Sakura nodded and took off to find some more genin. They ended up recruiting Shino and Shikamaru. They would have got Sasuke, but he was currently too injured to fight.

Naruto continued to pursue the three siblings until the three suddenly stopped. Kankuro turned around and revealed his puppet, crow.

"Temari, take Gaara and go on ahead. I'll take care of Blondie here." Kankuro motioned for his sister to leave. Temari shot a sad glance at Naruto before she took off with Gaara. Naruto tried to follow, only to barely dodge a poisoned attack from crow.

"Your battle is with me." Kankuro stated. Naruto growled as he dodged another swipe from the puppet. He 'jumped' to Kankuro's position and attempted to land a punch on the older boy. Kankuro, having expected this, dodged at the last moment. Naruto narrowed his eyes and was about to create a Rasengan when he felt four presences behind him. They were very familiar presences.

"I will stall the enemy. You three go and stop Gaara." Shino pointed out logically. Naruto nodded and was immediately hopping through the trees, followed closely by Kiba, Sakura and Shikamaru. Soon enough they arrived to see Temari standing next to a large sphere of sand. She looked unsure about something.

"What is he doing?" Kiba asked. Temari didn't answer as she sent a powerful blast of wind at the four. Kiba, Naruto and Shikamaru dodged, but unfortunately for Sakura she was sent flying back into a tree. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Whatever he's doing—I'm gonna stop it. Distract her!" Naruto suddenly held out his palm as a ball of chakra spiraled into existence. Temari's eyes widened. She couldn't let him hit Gaara's sand shield with that. She was about to intercept Naruto, when she all of a sudden heard.

"Fang over Fang!" The Suna girl barely dodged twin tornadoes as they burst through a tree. Kiba and Akamaru nodded towards Naruto, who nodded back.

Naruto 'jumped' in front of Gaara's shield as he reared his palm back. "**Rasengan!**" He yelled as he plunged the ball into Gaara's shield. The shield held strong for about a second until the Rasengan started to overpower it and shredded a hole in the middle. Gaara watched helplessly as the ball stopped an inch away from his face.

"I think I got him!" Naruto yelled as he tried to pull fist back. He felt a large hand clamp on his arm. "Crap!" The blond Jinchuriki panicked as he pulled with all his strength and pulled his arm free. Out of the hole in the sand Naruto could clearly see what he could only describe as a demon's arm. The sand shield slowly crumbled to reveal Gaara. Gaara had half of his face looking like a Taunki made out of sand. He also had a single demonic arm.

"Mother wants your blood Uzumaki!" Gaara screamed as he batted the blond with his arm. Naruto adjusted himself in mid air and landed on a far away branch.

"Gaara please don't kill him!" Temari pleaded to her younger brother, or what used to be her younger brother.

"You're useless!" Gaara growled as he batted his sister away. Temari was flying full speed and headed straight for a tree. _'So this is how it ends?'_ She opened her eyes when she found herself hitting something soft. The blonde haired girl saw that her savior was none other than Naruto. He flashed her a face-splitting grin.

"Don't worry Temari-chan, I'll take him down." Naruto whispered in the girl's ear. He set her down and focused on Gaara.

"You would kill your own sister like that? That's wrong on so many levels. You're family." Naruto shouted. Gaara merely flashed a psychotic grin.

"Family? I never considered either of those two my family. They are worthless. They are weak." The demon-possessed boy shouted right back as he reared his arm back.

"**Suna Shuriken!**" Gaara yelled as he shot a round of sand shuriken at Naruto. Naruto dodged out of the way and 'jumped' behind Gaara. He attempted to deliver a punch to the Taunki's back, only for sand to erupt from the back and wrap around him.

_'This is bad…'_ Naruto thought as he looked at his teammates. He could swear he heard a deep howling laughter in his head.

**A/N: Sorry this took so long, I was busy with The Yellow Flash of Kiri. If you haven't already read it please check it out. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please continue to read and don't forget to review.**

**Seriously, I know you were about to just click the 'X' without reviewing…your despicable…click the pretty button right now or else…well just click it anyway? Please?**


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